Known
by Kasamyra
Summary: "What I am doesn't make me who I am, it's what I do that matters. I've spent my whole life trying to hide what I can do, but now I've found a purpose, something that I can do that nobody else can. I can help people! You can't expect me to waste that to protect myself from the few people who will want to get rid of me because I'm different." Sequel to Empath.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: New Beginnings

"Alessa!" Someone called through the crowd of students and parents milling about the platform waiting to board the Hogwarts Express. Alessa turned around to look for whoever had called her and spotted pale arms waving frantically over the heads of the student. Alessa made her way over to the small group waiting for her.

"Ginny," Alessa said, embracing the younger girl. "What are you guys doing here?"

"James wanted to say goodbye," Ginny said, handing the squirming infant over to Alessa. James was almost a year old now, and had just begin taking a few steps at a time without falling over. Alessa had helped Ginny go over her house again a few weeks ago, baby proofing everything now that James could get into more trouble.

"Hello James, have you been good for your mommy?" Alessa asked as she settled him over her hip. He just giggled in reply, waving his pudgy arms in the air, making Alessa smile.

"And what's your excuse, George? I said goodbye to you this morning," Alessa said, raising an eyebrow at him. Neither of them had told the others about their engagement or that George planned on moving to Hogsmead before winter came.

They had spent the entire previous evening furiously packing everything they owned into boxes to move to the new house when George got a chance. Alessa planned to help him move things after she got settled in at school and used to the new job.

"I wanted to be here in case she noticed," George said, smirking. Ginny looked at him in confusion, then back at Alessa who smirked back.

"Noticed what?" Ginny asked, moving out of the way of a family passing by them.

"Oh, nothing really," Alessa said airily, using her left hand to brush her hair away from her face with unneeded exaggeration, making sure the ring George had given her the day before was in plain view.

"Oh my god! Is this for real?!" Ginny screeched, making people around them glance over. Ginny ignored them and grabbed Alessa's hand, pulling her closer to examine the ring. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me you were going to propose George? I bet you made a complete mess of it," Ginny said, still grasping Alessa's hand, though she was now glaring at George, who held his hands up in front of him.

"I didn't propose," George said, smiling at Ginny's obvious confusion.

"But… What?" Ginny asked, looking back and forth between them.

"She did," George said, laughing.

"Well, sort of," Alessa said, becoming the recipient of Ginny's glare now. "I mean, he already was going to, I just brought it up first."

"Ug!" Ginny said, throwing her hands up in the air and turning away from them. "No one tells me anything."

"If it makes you feel better, we haven't told anyone else yet either," Alessa said, holding tighter to James as he tried to reach for a passing owl hooting in its cage.

"Hm," Ginny muttered, turning back to them. "I guess that does make it a bit better. But promise to fill me in on any other big gossip right away next time," she said, frowning at them. Alessa and George looked at each other for a moment, then back at Ginny.

"Well…" Alessa began, falling silent at Ginny's renewed glare.

"What now?" She asked, then gasped. "Oh my god! Are you pregnant too? This is so exciting!"

"No Ginny, I'm not pregnant," Alessa said, laughing.

"I'm opening a new shop," George said before Ginny could comment. "And I'm going to be moving there in a few months."

"In Hogsmeade?" Ginny guessed. They both nodded. "Well that explains why you have both been happier today than I've seen either of you in the last couple months."

Alessa smiled, then turned her attention to James who had fallen still against her. He was watching the huge train behind Alessa, eyes wide.

"I need to get going," Alessa said. She had already stowed her trunk in a compartment up near the front that the conductor had said another new teacher was going to be riding in. Alessa had received a letter the day before saying that she could floo to Hogsmeade before the students arrived if she wanted, but as none of her belongings were it the castle yet, she would be bringing a trunk, which was hard to take through the floo network by herself, so she had opted for taking the train.

Ginny threw her arms around Alessa and James, hugging them both.

"I'll miss you so much," Ginny said, her eyes beginning to water. "I promise to visit you in Hogsmeade when I get a break from training. The season starts next month though, so I don't know how soon that will be," Ginny said, wiping her eyes.

"I'll try to come watch your first home game," Alessa said, her eyes filling too.

"I'll send you tickets," Ginny said.

"You'd better," Alessa said, handing James back to his mother and standing back. The platform was nearly empty now, only a few stragglers left. She turned to give George another hug.

"I'll see you in a few weeks," he said, hugging her.

"Okay," Alessa said, smiling softly as she pulled away. She boarded the train, waving goodbye to them as she stood in the doorway, then made her way to her compartment as the train began to move.

She walked through the halls, dodging students who were looking for their friends or a place to sit, until she reached the front of the train. None of the students had paid her any attention, they probably didn't realize she wasn't a student. She was 22, but she was short enough to pass for a student, so she wasn't surprised. Most of the current teachers at Hogwarts were well into their fifties or sixties, some older still.

She pulled the door of her compartment open and hurried in, dodging a small first year student who ran in front of her. She slid the door shut behind her with a sigh, and sat on the empty row of seats opposite a man with light hair who was hunched over reading a book. He glanced up at her as she sat.

"Hi, I'm Alessa Sarati, I'm going to be teaching the new Personal Development classes," Alessa said, reaching her hand across the empty space to shake his.

"I'm Draco," he said, shaking her hand briefly. He had a guarded look on his face as he watched her, and she could feel that he was anxious. As she looked at his face again, she recognized him.

"Oh! I know you," she said suddenly, making him jump. "You were a year behind me in school right? And you're Blaise's friend. Draco Malfoy, right," she could feel the confusion coming from him as he tilted his head slightly.

"You know Blaise?" Draco asked, not commenting on their school years.

"I'm his cousin," Alessa said, sitting back against her seat.

"Oh, Blaise has talked about you before. He called you Aly though," Draco said, his anxiousness fading back a little when she didn't freak out at the sight of him.

"Does he?" Alessa asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll have to have a word with him about that, I hate that nickname." She chuckled. "So what are you teaching?"

"Potions," Draco said, setting his book aside. "Old Slughorn retired again last year, and I've been working at St. Mungo's in their potion department for the last three years. I was a little surprised to receive the letter from the Headmistress. I wasn't exactly the best person in school."

"Oh? Hermione said you were second in your year in grades. She seemed bothered by it actually," Alessa said, smiling slightly at the memory.

"That's not what I meant," Draco said, but he didn't elaborate, instead looking out the window.

"So," Alessa said after a few moments of awkward silence. "It'll be nice to not be the only younger professor here, I don't think anyone else is under sixty."

"Nah, Professor Sprout retired two years ago and one of those Griffindor boys from my year took over for her," Draco said, not turning away from the window.

"Oh really?" Alessa asked. "I didn't hear about that."

"They announced it in May I think, right after school let out. It was in the paper," Draco said, losing interest in the conversation.

"Oh, well that would explain why I didn't hear about it," Alessa said thinking back. "I was in Azkaban in May last year."

"Azkaban?" Draco asked sharply, drawing her out of her thoughts. He had turned back to look at her, an eyebrow raised in interest.

"Yeah," Alessa said, shrugging. "It was a… misunderstanding. On the ministry's part." He raised his eyebrow again, then frowned in thought.

"Wait, I think I heard about that," Draco said. "It was all covered up and secret, but then some ministry people started hunting you down and killing your family." He looked up then. "Sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean…"

"It's fine," Alessa said, flapping her hand at him. "I didn't realize that the public knew about that."

"Well a lot of people figured it out. After that article was published, some of the people in the ministry went around telling people that the new laws were written because you had some evil power the minister wanted to hide, they were trying to get him overturned I think. No one really believed what they said though," he spoke in a slightly disbelieving tone.

"Hm, I didn't hear about that either," Alessa said, shrugging. Then she turned to watch the scenery pass by in a blur.

"So do you?" Draco asked after another few minutes of silence.

"What?" Alessa asked looking around at him, startled.

"Do you have some evil power that the minister is going to use to get rid of his opponents?" He asked, smirking.

"Nah," Alessa said, laughing easily. "Nothing evil or anything like that. And I've only ever met the minister once."

"So you do have some weird power?" Draco asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Not really," Alessa said, shrugging. "I've just spent a lot of time studying meditation and Psychology, so I have more control over things of the mind than most people do."

"So you can read minds? Like occlumency?" He asked, and she felt his emotions draw back as if he had pulled them behind a wall.

"No," Alessa said. "I just have a strong understanding of how people think, and I'm good at guessing. For example, right now I can tell that you are guarding your thoughts. You are also anxious, I'm assuming because you expect people to judge you badly for being in Slytherin? Or something else. And you are also nervous, probably to be teaching soon. And now you are angry that I know all that," Alessa said, watching his face close up, becoming a mask. He stared at her for a moment, then turned back to the window for a few minutes. She could feel the curiosity building quickly again though, so she waited for him to talk.

"So you can just tell how people are feeling?" He asked at last.

"Yeah," Alessa said, nodding.

"How does that work? Like you just feel it? Or you read it off them somehow?" He asked, finally looking back at her.

"Well, everyone has little tells. It's easier to do the more I know someone, but there are some tells that a lot of people have. When they are nervous, they tap their fingers or become restless, most people do anyway. When they are angry they hide it behind an emotionless face most times. Some people clench their fists, or begin to move in jagged, sharp motions. When someone lies, they usually look away, or blink a lot," Alessa said, explaining the normal ways of reading people, without telling him that she could also feel the emotions. "And if you pay attention, it's not hard to guess the reasons behind those emotions."

"That is… really weird," he said.

"Yep," Alessa said, leaning back against her seat again. "I will try not to analyze you too often since it seems to make you uncomfortable."

"Thanks, I think," he said, his face slowly coming out of its emotionless mask again. He picked up his book again, and the conversation was over.

Alessa pulled down her trunk and hunted through it for the current book she was studying from, one she had picked up from a muggle book story about Anatomy.

The next hour or so passed quietly, both of them reading. The silence was broken as the compartment door slid open, revealing four students who looked to be in about their sixth or seventh year. Alessa and Draco both looked up at the disruption.

"Hi," the boy in front said. "We heard there were some new professors in one of the compartments around here. Do you know where they are?" His voice was snobbish and bossy, making Alessa frown for a moment.

"Why are you looking for them?" She asked, realizing that in their black robes, both Draco and her looked like students.

"We want to give them a… proper welcome," the boy said, smirking. The two behind him laughed. Alessa glance at Draco, who shrugged, returning to his book.

"Who are you," she asked, turning back to the boys, all of whom frowned.

"What, have you been living under a rock? Everyone knows who we are," he said, narrowing his eyes. "What house are you from anyway?"

"Ravenclaw," she responded. "And he's from Slytherin."

"Slytherin, huh?" the boy asked, looking Draco over. He was still ignoring them. Alessa saw the boy attempt to discreetly pull his wand from his pocket, and she let her's fall into her hand from the sleeve she kept it in, using her leg to shield it from view. "We don't care for Slytherin's around here." Draco continued to read, making the boy snarl at being ignored.

"What house are you from then?" Alessa asked, seemingly unconcerned.

"Gryffindor of course," he said, rolling his eyes. "But I wouldn't object to a little… creative studying… with a Ravenclaw," he smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her. She rolled her eyes and went to pick up her book again.

"Go away, I'm bored of you already," she said, not looking at them. She heard a snarl come from the boy and from the corner of her eye she saw him shift, raising his wand at her. She flicked her wand silently at him, and caught the wand that jumped from his hand, then she flicked her wand twice more, collecting the other boy's wands.

"You may collect these from your head of house after the feast," Alessa said, not looking up from her book as she tucked the wands into her robe.

"Who do you think you are?" The boy said angrily as he took a step towards her, fists raising in anger. Within seconds Draco had stood and grabbed his wrist, twisting the boy around to the door and shoving him into his friends, then sat down just as quickly, his book back on his lap. Alessa returned to her book as well as they sputtered in the hall, trying to get back to their feet. She had a tiny smirk on her face and could see from the corner of her eye that Draco wore one as well. When all the boys were standing again, Alessa stood to face them, setting her book aside.

"I am Professor Sarati, this is Professor Malfoy," she said, throughly enjoying the terrified look that appeared on their faces. "I will be informing your head of house of your unsavory behavior, and I will suggest a week's worth of detentions, since you did in fact, attack a Professor." They stared at her in fright, though all of them were at least a foot taller than her. She put her hand on her hip and shifted her weight to one foot as she had seen Mrs. Weasley do when she was angry. "You may leave," she said after a moment of silence. They turned and scurried out of the compartment, letting the door slam shut behind them. She sat with a sigh, then caught Draco's eye and they both chuckled.

"Brats," she said, picking her book up again. "Now I just have to figure out who is in charge of Gryffindor house."

"That would be me," a voice said from the compartment door. Alessa looked up, then smiled.

"Neville! I didn't know you were teaching here!" She said, scooting over on her bench so he could sit next to her. He looked at Draco a moment, then sat.

"I heard you were on board about five minutes ago, I didn't know you were coming to teach this year either," he said, looking away from Draco at last. "What subject are you taking?"

"Personal Development," Alessa said, setting her book aside again. "It's a new addition," she continued, seeing his frown of confusion. "Anyway, how is Luna doing? I haven't seen either of you in so long."

"We are engaged," Neville said, grinning. "She talks about you sometimes. She thinks that you and Ginny were plotting to get us together."

"Well Ginny did all the plotting," Alessa said, chuckling. "I wish I could see her face when she hears the news."

"I saw her on the platform but I didn't get a chance to say hello," Neville said. "Was that her son she was with?"

"Yeah, his name is James. He's the cutest little baby," Alessa said, smiling. "He's almost a year old now."

"Yeah, Luna said Ginny wasn't able to make it to the hospital for the birth," Neville said, sitting back in his seat.

"Where did she hear that?" Alessa asked, leaning back in her seat since it seemed as though the conversation wouldn't be ending any time soon.

"She's been working in the maternity ward at St. Mungo's off and on since she finished school. It gives her something to do between the trips she takes," Neville said, grinning.

"It seems like everyone has been working there," Alessa said, shaking her head. "I was a secretary there for a few years, Draco worked in the potions lab, and now Luna."

"Yeah," Neville said, then glanced at Draco uncomfortably. "Well, it's good the baby is doing well."

"Yeah, that was a really frightening day actually. We were stuck in Ginny's house and the only people there were me and my cousin, and neither of us really knew what to do. But it all worked out. Oh," Alessa said, reaching into her robe. "Here. I confiscated these from some boys who came by a little bit ago. They thought it would be fun to try to rough us up a bit."

"Yeah," Neville said, sighing. "I know who they were. Knowells, Grant, and Samson. Those three have had more detentions than anyone else in the house combined."

"I'll help you whip them into shape if you'd like," Alessa said, smirking. "I'm sure I can find some horrendous task for them to do. I'm good at torturing people."

"I'll think about it," Neville said, laughing. "So are you taking over the potions lessons, Malfoy?"

"What?" Draco said, looking up in surprise at being addressed.

"Are you going to be teaching potions?" Neville asked again, keeping a polite look on his face.

"Yeah," Draco said, frowning. "Aren't you a bit young to be head of house for Gryffindor?"

"I guess," Neville said, obviously making an effort to converse politely. "There aren't any other Gryffindor teachers though, so I get the job by default. McGonagall was heading the house till last year."

"Oh," Draco said, and the cabin fell into a silence again.

"Well, I should get back to my carriage," Nevile said a few moments later, standing.

"See you later, Neville," Alessa said as he left the cabin. Alessa waited a few moments, then turned back to Draco.

"So are you one of those Slytherins who just assumes everyone hates them because they were in Slytherin?" Alessa asked, watching Draco look up.

"I thought you weren't going to analyze me with your weird mind powers," he muttered, looking at his book again.

"I didn't. I was just wondering," Alessa said, smiling. "You seemed surprised that Neville talked to you."

"Yeah, well, we didn't get on in school, so I was a bit surprised," Draco muttered, not looking up.

"Blaise said the same thing when he first started talking to Harry," Alessa said.

"Well Blaise just didn't talk to others at school. I did, and I wasn't nice to them," Draco said, flipping a page in his book.

"Ah," Alessa said. "Well not everyone holds grudges."

"I guess," Draco said, still not looking up. Alessa sighed, then returned to her book for the remainder of the journey, only stopping her reading once to purchase a pumpkin pasty from the witch who stopped by with the trolley of sweets.

When the train finally pulled into Hogsmead, Alessa, Draco, and Neville were some of the first people to get off, leaving their luggage on the train to be brought up to the castle by the house elves. Neville joined them on the carriage ride up to the school, leading them to Professor McGonagall when they reached the castle. She greeted them all warmly, causing Draco to be surprised again, then led them into the Great Hall as the first students began to filter in to find their tables.

Alessa felt odd being back in the Great Hall after so many years away, and she looked around as she followed McGonagall up to the head table. She directed Alessa to sit near the end of the table, Draco on her left at the very end, and Neville on her right.

Finally, the hall fell silent as Professor Flitwick appeared, trailing the first year students behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: First Lesson

The sorting commenced quickly and Professor McGonagall stood to make a short speech, introducing the two new teachers and then going into the list of rules. Finally, the feast started, and Alessa spent the next hour picking at her food and watching the students in front of her. It was odd to be sitting above the students now, and Alessa was having a hard time getting used to it. She talked a little with the other professors near her, greeting Professor Flitwick enthusiastically. As the feast came to an end, McGonagall came to speak to her while the students filed out of the hall.

"Professor Malfoy, I trust you remember how to get to your new chambers?" McGonagall said, coming to a stop in front of them.

"Yes ma'am," Draco said politely.

"And Ms. Sarati, I have prepared temporary chambers for your use until you are able to move into your new residence in Hogsmeade. If you will follow me please," she said, turning as Alessa stood to follow her.

Alessa waved goodbye to the others, then followed her out of the Great Hall to the staircase.

"Your classroom is on the seventh floor. Your temporary chambers are connected to the classroom by an office. It doesn't matter how long you choose to occupy those chambers as they are otherwise unused," McGonagall said as they walked up the stairs together. Alessa nodded. "Classes are assigned tomorrow morning, so you will get the weekly schedule then. We have decided that, given your subject, it would be more prudent to have separate classes for the boys and girls."

"Oh, good," Alessa said, walking along the corridor. "I was wondering how that would all work out. It's difficult to teach health classes to young students when they are too worried about what the others are going to think."

"Yes," McGonagall said, heading up another flight of stairs and coming to a stop. "Here is your classroom," she continued, pushing the door open. "We only have desks in here for now, but I'm sure you will want something else for meditation classes. You can put in a request for other furniture you need tomorrow morning, and you will receive it before classes begin, within reason of course. As I wrote you before, this Personal Development class is a trial for the year, the board of directors are not sure that it's needed, but I think we will be keeping the class after the year is over. It's important that children understand themselves and know what to expect in the future." Alessa nodded again.

"Your office is through that door, and the sleeping chambers beyond that," she said briskly.

"Thank you professor," Alessa said, turning back to her.

"You're welcome. And congratulations on your engagement, Ms. Sarati," she said, smiling down at the short girl.

"Thank you," Alessa said, grinning.

"I will see you in the morning at breakfast," McGonagall said, then turned and left the classroom, shutting the door behind her. Alessa made her way through the dark room to her office, using her wand to light the way. The office was large, and contained a wide desk for her to work at, as well as many bookshelves and a large window, overlooking the quidditch pitch and the lawns in front of the castle. Behind the desk was a stone door that blended with the walls so well that Alessa almost missed it. She pushed it open and a few candles placed around the room burst into light. The room was cozy, containing only a bed, a wardrobe, a fireplace, her trunk and another door which she assumed led to a bathroom. The window above the bed would probably let in a lot of light during the day, and she was glad to see that it could be propped open a bit to let in some fresh air.

Alessa searched through her trunk for some pajamas, and changed into them quickly, falling exhaustedly onto the bed. She relaxed for a moment, then waved her wand to extinguish the candles and snuggled into the blanket, closing her eyes.

* * *

Alessa woke the next morning to the light tapping of an owl on her window. She yawned, standing to let it in, then frowned as she realized it wasn't her own owl, but one of the large school ones. She unwrapped the scroll tied to it's leg and hurriedly searched out some owl treats for it, waiting for it to fly back out the window before sitting down on her bed to open the scroll.

The parchment contained a list of dates and times and Alessa frowned for a moment before realizing that these were the days she would be assigned to patrol the hallways. She folded the paper up and set it on her bed so she would remember to grab it on her way out, then she sorted through her trunk for the things she would need to take a shower and for clothes to wear under her robes.

By the time she made it down to the Great Hall, breakfast had begun and the students who had already arrived were talking loudly. She made her way between the long house tables until she came to the head table and took her seat near the end, in the spot she had occupied the night before. The many different kinds of food piled on plates near her made her hesitate, but then she spotted a bowl of fruit and grabbed a banana from it. The morning post came in a few minutes later with a woosh of flapping wings. She spotted her owl, Apollo, coasting down towards her and held up an arm for him to land on. She took the note from his leg and let him drink from her cup of water for a few moments before he took flight again. She unrolled the small paper and smiled softly as she read the two lines of writing. "Hope your first night went well. I miss you. -George"

"Love note, Sarati?" A voice said from her left. She looked over in surprise, not having heard him approach.

"Yes, actually," she said, rolling it back up and putting it in her robes. "Not that it's any of your business, Malfoy."

He rolled his eyes, then looked out over the rows of students. Many had finished eating and were waiting for their schedules which the heads of house were handing out slowly.

"Looking forward to your first class?" He asked, not turning away from the kids.

"Sort of," Alessa said, sighing. "I'm a bit nervous though."

"Me too. It's odd to be back here," he said.

"I know," she said, nodding. She had finished picking apart her fruit and was anxious to get out of the Hall. She had the rest of the day to unpack her things and prepare for which ever classes she was teaching tomorrow, but she felt like she should be hurrying.

"So, I heard from one of the other professors that your parents are potioneers?" Draco said after a few moments.

"They were," Alessa said, nodding. "They aren't around anymore though."

"Oh, sorry," Draco said, looking away from her.

"It's fine, it happened a long time ago," she said. She still felt a pang at the loss, but it was easier to remember the good things about her parents, so she didn't let the bad memories get to her. "I do like potions, though. I think if I wasn't so fascinated by human anatomy and psychology I would have gone into something like potion making."

"What is psychology? You said it yesterday too, but I've never come across the term," Draco said, sipping from his cup as the students who had already received their schedules started trickling out of the hall.

"It's basically how a person thinks. And how their brains work and what chemicals cause certain things to happen in the brain. Anatomy is the study of the human body, like muscles and what different things do to the body," Alessa explained, waving her hand around in illustration.

"I didn't know those were things that are studied," Draco said.

"Well actually, wizards don't really study them. Muggles do though, and they are far more advanced in those areas than we are. Wizards rely on magic to tell them things, but since the muggles can't do that, they have created other ways of knowing what happens inside their bodies," Alessa said, watching the heads of house finally get to the ends of their tables.

"It sounds interesting," Draco said, distractedly. "I suppose studying those things is where you get your ability to read people so well?"

"No, I was born with that. It's a genetic thing, my parents could do it too," Alessa said, smiling.

"Oh," Draco said, but didn't have time to continue as McGonagall began to walk along the table, handing out papers. When she got to their end of the table, Alessa took her sheet and watched the timetables appear on the paper. She would be teaching the fifth year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs first thing tomorrow, followed by third year Slytherins and Ravenclaws, then Seventh year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. After lunch she would have all the first years, split into two classes, one for girls and one for boys, and the second years from Slytherin and Gryffindor, also split into two classes. Since hers was a newer class, she had decided to spend the first few weeks teaching the older students what she would have taught them in previous years if she had been there, sort of like a review. She would start the first, second, and third years on body development, as most of them were at the age where puberty would be kicking in soon. The older students she would teach meditation and how to organize their minds, like she had with George a long time ago. She would also teach them basic anatomy and how to take care of their bodies by staying healthy, exercising and not eating too many sweets.

She wasn't worried about teaching the younger students at all, it was the older ones that had her nervous. Most of them were taller and bigger than her, and some of them had already shown that they didn't respect authority. At least she was quick with her wand in most cases.

She bid farewell to Draco and returned to her rooms to unpack her things and set up the class room for the next day. Rather than requesting different furniture for the classes the next day, Alessa had decided to transfigure the things that were already there. She knew that many of the students would feel awkward enough, given the subject, so she wanted to make the room more comfortable.

She started with the drapes and decorations already present in the room. Rather than the normal black drapes, she charmed them to be white, immediately brightening up the room. She got rid of the dreary hangings on the walls, replacing them with lighter colored ones. Then she turned to the chairs and desks, arranged in straight rows, thinking. They would need desks occasionally, for notes, but she didn't want to have a 'usual' classroom. Finally she smiled, waving her wand at the desks and chairs. The chairs collapsed into bean bag chairs, the desks shrunk a few feet, still usable if the students needed them. She could do nothing about the cold stone floors. Maybe she could ask the headmistress for carpets or rugs of some kind. She made a note to write to her before lunch, then she went back to her office to finish organizing the books she had brought with her.

Once George moved their things to Hogsmead, she would have most of her collection of books brought here. There was a quiet knock on her doorframe, causing her to turn from her shelves.

"I see you won't be needing any new furniture," McGonagall said, standing in the doorway.

"No ma'am," Alessa said, walking out form behind her desk. "I did mean to ask you though, is there any way I could get a carpet, or some rugs, for the floors?"

"Yes, I'll have some elves lay them out later today. I must say, this is an unusual set up," McGonagall said, waving a hand over the room.

"Yes, well, this could be seen as an uncomfortable subject to some, so I wanted to make the room as comfortable as possible," Alessa said, hoping she hadn't overstepped her bounds.

"That seems reasonable," McGonagall said, nodding. Alessa released a breath. "I was stopping by to make sure you received the schedule of hall patrols you are assigned to this semester?"

"Yes, I did. My fist patrol is this afternoon at six," Alessa said.

"Very good. The fireplace in your chambers is connected to the floo network so that when you do move off the bounds, you will be able to floo into your rooms each morning rather than having to make the half hour walk each day," McGonagall said, looking around the office now. "I suggest warding your office so that no others will be able to get in or out, as a protection to you and to the castle."

"Of course," Alessa said, nodding.

"Then I will see you at lunch, Ms. Sarati," McGonagall said, turning and walking out of the classroom. Alessa let out a sigh. She liked the older woman well enough, but it was stressful having to talk with her, she was always so somber.

* * *

That night Alessa cast the same warding spells over her office and bedroom that she had used on her flat in London so long ago. She added an alarm spell Hermione had shown her that would let her know when someone was attempting to get into her flat or office. The tricky part that Hermione had added to the spell was the ability to tell who it was trying to get in, and the ability to disable the wards for that person from far away if needed. The original spell worked by sending a signal to the caster's wand, making it warm slightly. Hermione, after spending a very long time questioning Alessa about what she did to keep things separate in her mind, had come up with the idea to pull the spell into her mind and keep it in a compartment or room by itself, so that Alessa would get a warning in her mind about it. They had tested it a few times, Hermione tweaking the spell over and over so that it would work for Alessa.

Alessa dropped her arm and sighed as she entered her rooms. The previous night she had been exhausted, falling asleep immediately. Tonight though, she lay awake on her bed, missing the usual warmth of George and feeling far more alone than she had felt in a very long time. She also lay awake worrying about her lessons the next day. Her patrols through the hall had gone quickly, but she was again aware that she was much shorter and smaller than most of the older students, and many of them didn't notice her until she was right next to them. She had liked this when she had been in school herself, it helped her to not draw attention to herself. Now though, she was worried that none of the students would take her seriously

She lay awake until the early morning before falling into a fitful sleep and waking earlier than she would have liked to. She showered and dressed slowly but still managed to arrive in the Great Hall earlier than most. She wished she had brought the makeup Ginny had forced her to buy so long ago, then at least she could have covered up the circles under her eyes.

She ate very little, watching as students trickled in and out of the hall in pairs or small groups. Finally she gave up trying to eat and made to stand.

"You should eat more than that, you wouldn't want to faint halfway through your first class," Malfoy said, causing her to jump.

"Were you always so good at sneaking up on people or is that something special they taught you in Slytherin?" She asked grumpily. He whistled a low note.

"No need to be snippy," he said, making her sigh.

"Sorry, I didn't sleep well," she said, settling back into her chair and pulling a bowl of oatmeal toward her.

"Nerves?" he asked, taking a bite of his food.

"Yeah, and homesickness too, I guess," Alessa said, then shook her head.

"It'll be fine," Draco said, sipping his mug. Alessa sighed.

"I wish I had some coffee. That would make everything better," she said, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her temples as a headache began to grow.

"You know you can just ask for things and the elves will give it to you," he said, making her look up.

"What?" She asked, confused. He pointed his fork in the direction of her plate and she turned to see a large mug of coffee had appeared.

"Oh, thank god," she said, picking it up and blowing on it before taking a sip. She sighed gratefully and leaned back in her chair. As she drank, she tried to calm down and not think about her classes that day. She had everything perfectly planned out, but she still worried that it would be a disaster. "So why did you decide to come work here?" She asked after a few minutes.

"People don't really like me much. They hear my name and immediately become distrustful. I'm lucky I got the job at St. Mungos, most places would have turned me away immediately. Some people at St. Mungos still wanted to," he said, then shrugged. "I figured that people couldn't assume I am up to no good if I'm under constant watch of Hogwarts staff. Plus here I'm away from most people anyway."

"Ah," she said, not really knowing what else to say. She finished off her coffee after another few minutes and stood. "Well, good luck today."

"Thanks," he said. "You too."

"Thank you," she said, smiling, then she made her way back up to her classroom so she could be there when the first students arrived.

She sat behind her desk at the front of the room and began a quick letter to George before remembering that she didn't have her owl there to send it off, she had left him with George. She sighed, setting down her quill and throwing the parchment into the fire burning behind her.

After another fifteen minutes, a group of three fifth year Ravenclaw girls walked tentatively into the room and looked around.

"Sit anywhere you like," Alessa said to them, smiling. The girls sat toward the front of the room. Over the next ten minutes the room filled, most of the students sat with groups of their own house, Ravenclaws on one side, Hufflepuffs on the other. As the clock struck 8:30, Alessa stood and the room fell into silence.

"Good morning," she said. "As you know, this class is a new addition to the curriculum this year, so we will be spending the first few weeks going over what I am teaching the younger students. Now, do any of you know what a Personal Development class is?" She asked, looking around the room. A few students raised their hands, and she guessed that they were the muggleborn kids.

"Yes, Mr…." she trailed off, not knowing the boys name. She realized she probably should have started with a roll call, but it was too late now.

"Thomson," the boy said, shifting as the others turned to look at him. "Personal Development classes are muggle classes that teach how the body changes through puberty and how other health related issues."

"Very good, five points to Ravenclaw. This class will not only be based on the muggle aspects, we will also cover the development of magic and focus on how your mind works in your sixth and seventh years. For the fourth and fifth years we will mainly be studying anatomy while the first, second, and third years will study bodily development," Alessa said, turning around to walk back up to her desk and get the book she had assigned the class. "Now, who knows what anatomy is?"

* * *

As the day went on, Alessa grew more and more confident with her lessons. Most of the students were well behaved and respected her as a teacher despite her age. After lunch she awaited the arrival of the first year girls from all houses, mixed together. They arrived in small groups, nervous and unsure as the sat around the room trying to sit as far in the back as possible. When they had all arrived, Alessa waved her wand to shut the classroom door and they stopped talking immediately.

"Hello, I am Professor Sarati," Alessa said, walking down the isle. "I hope you have all been finding your way around alright." A few of the girls chuckled, one of them raising a hand as Alessa turned back to the front of the room.

"Yes?" She asked, looking at the girl.

"How come there are no boys in this class?" She asked, looking around. Many of the other girls looked around too, just noticing.

"Well, this class is called Personal Development. As you are first years, we will be covering subjects such as how your body will be changing in the next few years, including periods, pregnancy, breasts, and other female things. I assume you all will be more comfortable talking about these things if there were no boys present at the time." Many of the girls were staring awkwardly into there laps or at the walls. "Since you are already uncomfortable with the subjects, I think I am correct there."

She turned back to her desk.

"Please take out your books and turn to chapter one," Alessa said, turning with them. "We will be spending a few weeks on the first chapter, which talks about puberty and what to expect in the next few years. You may begin to read it now."

* * *

That evening at dinner Alessa spent a few moments detailing her first few lessons in a letter to George, signing off the bottom with an 'I love you and miss you' and sighing as she rolled it up.

"Another love letter Sarati?" Draco asked as he walked up to the table.

"Yes, because all I do in my free time is write letters to my many admirers, Malfoy," she said, smirking. She had already finished her meal and was just waiting for an appropriate time to leave the Hall. Most of the teachers didn't take meals in the Great Hall often, but since sit was the first night of classes, many of them were there anyway.

"Well I assume thats what most girls do in their free time," Draco said, taking his seat.

"Well obviously none of us have the time to write love letters to you then," she said off handedly, then regretted it immediately as she felt a wave of loneliness roll off him. She kept a straight face at her comment.

"Yes, thats because I'm obviously too good for love letters," he said, taking a bite from the food he had piled onto his plate.

"I didn't mean to upset you," Alessa said, taking a sip of her tea. Draco looked up at her, his mouth open in surprise, then he closed it and looked away. Alessa smiled inwardly, she loved throwing people off, it kept them on their toes.

"I thought you weren't doing that weird stuff on me," Draco said after a moment.

"I can't help it, I just notice," Alessa said. "But I'll stop bringing it up. Maybe. It's fun to surprise you, and it's really easy to do."

He rolled his eyes at her, turning back to his food.

"Aw, don't pout," Alessa said, chuckling. "I'll be nice."

She stood to leave the table and stuck his foot out to trip her. She jumped over it, making the smirk fall off his face.

"You'll have to try harder than that to surprise me," she said, laughing as she walked away. She heard him chuckle behind her as she left. She made her way to the owlery to send her letter, then walked back up to her rooms to prepare for bed and go over her classes the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Orphan Child

The first two weeks of classes passed quickly, and before Alessa had time to stop and breath, the third week of classes had started. She hadn't been sleeping well since she arrived at the castle, which she assumed was because of the unfamiliarity of the rooms. She was especially excited for this week's classes, she planned to start the older students on meditation and begin the second and third years on their own curriculum now that they had finished reviewing what she taught the first years.

The class right before lunch was a seventh year group, and she was a little nervous to teach them meditation, because it would involve her walking through their minds, and she wasn't used to being able to put that ability out in the open but she thought the students should learn to at least protect their minds from intruders, if not also learn to organize it. She wished she could see George, maybe if she could talk to him she would be less nervous, but he had been busy the last two weekends, so she hadn't had a chance.

As soon as the classroom filled, she waved her wand, closing the door, then she waved it again to vanish the low desks.

"Today, we will be starting something new," Alessa said once the students were quiet. "Please find a comfortable place on the floor and sit with your legs crossed in front of you, and keep your back straight. Today's lesson will be in meditation," she continued talking as the students moved to do as she had said. "Meditation is the art of clearing your mind, allowing for the easier flow of energy throughout your body. With practice in meditation, you will be able to organize your minds as well as protect your thoughts from those who would use them against you. You will learn to block out occlumency, imperius curses, and other jinxes that are made to confuse the mind. You will be able to remember past event more clearly, and you will be able to recall information faster, ultimately making you learn faster."

Alessa paced around the room, the eyes of nearly every student in the room following her with interest.

"I will be coming around to you one at a time to make sure you get the hang of meditation to begin with. We will have this unit once a week for the remainder of the year, interspersed with anatomy lessons and psychology lessons. Now, rest your hands on your knees and close your eyes. Breath deeply to my count, and clear your mind of all thoughts," Alessa said, walking back up to the front of the room where there was an empty patch of carpet. She began to count the students off as she sat, eventually trailing off when they all seemed to be breathing for the correct amount of time.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then stretched her consciousness out to the student closest to her, a Ravenclaw boy in the front row. She didn't enter his mind all the way, just a part of the very outer edges, so that she would be able to call him there without seeing his thoughts.

Over the next half hour she went to each student, calling them into their own minds the same way that her mother had done for her all those years ago. Once each student had been able to enter their own minds, she stretched her consciousness out like a blanket, laying it over all the students. She was unsure if she could talk to more than one of them at a time, so she spoke in their minds and out loud.

"As you can see, your mind is cluttered with everything you have collected over the years, memories, emotions, thoughts, ideas, dreams, fears, they are all there. By meditating like this, you are able to organize these things into their own separate places. With a well organized mind, you can more easily keep other people from entering your mind if they are unwanted," Alessa said softly, trying to make her voice as soothing as possible as to not distract any of them. "In your mind, you can create anything you want to just by imagining it. For the remainder of this class, explore yourself. Figure out what you can do, practice creating things and moving them. I will be coming around to each of you again, if you have any questions, just think my name and I will come to you."

Alessa set a part of her mind to listening to the students in case they called for her. Five minutes before the class ended, she began telling them, one at a time, to open their eyes. Most of them were able to come out of the meditation easily, a few needed her to come and help them.

As the bell rang, many of the students were much more relaxed than they had been at the beginning of the hour. Alessa had forgotten how stressful school could be, and counted that as an extra reason the students needed an hour of meditation to relax during the week. As they exited the room, she could hear them talking about the lesson, and most of them had a positive reaction. Alessa smiled, some of the worry leaving her. She made her way to the Great Hall, more relaxed than she had been since school started.

* * *

"Excuse me, Ms. Sarati?" A voice said from the doorway of her office, causing Alessa to look up from the papers she was reading over. It was Friday evening, after her last class and Alessa was planning on leaving in a few minutes. George had said he would be moving things to their new house, and she was excited to finally see him after almost a month away. She sighed, taking in the second year girl.

"Yes Ms. Adams?" Alessa said, gesturing the girl into the room. She walked to the chair in front of the desk and sat, then twisted her hands together nervously. Alessa could feel the anxiety rolling off the girl as she glance around the room avoiding eye contact. Alessa frowned for a moment, then set her papers aside and leaned forward.

"Is everything alright?" Alessa asked, watching the girl look down into her lap.

"Yes. Well, maybe. Um… I was wondering… I heard…" the girl stuttered, then took a breath. "I heard some of the seventh years talking about your class earlier and they said you can walk through their minds… is that true?" She asked, finally looking up.

"Yes, I have been teaching meditation to the older students," Alessa said. "Is it something you are interested in? I could arrange an after class meeting time, a few of the other younger students have expressed an interest in learning as well."

"No, that's not it," the girl said nervously. "It's just… I have a little brother, he's seven. He can do that too, the mind walking. He has done it with me before, before we knew that we were magical."

"Oh, so you are muggle born? Are you sure that he has that talent? It's usually a genetic trait, passed down to you through your parents, I've never heard of someone who isn't magical passing down that trait," Alessa said, frowning in thought.

"I don't think we are muggle born. Our parents died when I was five, right after he was born. I don't remember them much. But I'm sure it's the same thing, it sounded just like what the seventh years were saying," the girl said, leaning forward in the chair slightly.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Alessa said. If what the girl was saying, there was a chance her little brother had empath abilities, Alessa had never heard of someone who wasn't an empath entering someone else's mind like she did. "Is there a reason you are telling me this?"

"Yes," the girl said, then seemed to steal herself. "I was wondering, well, hoping that you could go see him in the orphanage. He thinks he's a freak, because I can't do what he can and I told him no one else here could either. But that was last year before you came, but if you can mind walk then he isn't the only one and he will feel a lot better." Alessa sat back in her chair. She did want to go see the boy, if only because that would mean she wasn't the last empath alive. She didn't realize until that moment that the thought of being the last empath made her unhappy. She remained silent for a few moments.

"If you live at an orphanage, surely one of the professors visited you when you got your letter of acceptance to the school. Didn't you ask them about what your brother can do?" Alessa asked, seeing that the girl grew nervous at her silence.

"I did ask, Professor Vector was the one who came to get me, but he said he had never heard of that ability before," the girl said.

"Was Adams your parents last name?" Alessa asked. She had never heard of any old wizarding families called Adams, and the empath gene was an old one. A voice in her head told her she was trying to squash all hope of another empath by reasoning out the chances, but she ignored it.

"No, I don't remember what it was and the orphanage people never said, if they knew it. Adams is the name they give to all the kids without last names, because the orphanage is called Adams Children's Home," the girl answered, still looking at Alessa hopefully.

"And what is your first name again?" Alessa asked, forgetting.

"Katherine," she responded, making Alessa start.

"Okay, I will see your brother," Alessa said without meaning to. If she had been waiting for some sort of sign to help the girl, that was it. Katherine had been her great aunt's name, and hearing it was enough to make up Alessa's mind. "I will talk to the headmistress and let you know what is decided."

"Thank you Ms. Sarati," Katherine said, getting up from her chair. "I just don't want him to be thinking he won't fit in here, especially not now that he's there by himself."

"I understand. Good night Katherine," Alessa said, standing as well. The girl left the office and made her way through the classroom back to the halls. Alessa waved her wand, locking the classroom door and her office door, then she entered her chambers and reset the wards on the room before flooing to the house in Hogsmeade. She was so distracted by the conversation that she walked straight into George as she exited the fireplace.

"George!" She said happily, throwing her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, laughing.

"I missed you," he said into her hair once they had calmed down.

"Me too," Alessa said, sighing happily, then she pulled back.

"You don't look well," George said, frowning as he took in the circles under her eyes.

"I haven't been sleeping well," Alessa admitted. "I think it's just nerves."

"Have your classes been going badly?" George asked, frowning.

"No, no, they have been fine. It's just… new. The teaching thing. I still get nervous. I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough," Alessa said, then took in the room. "When did you move furniture in here?" She asked, taking in the couch and a few arm chairs placed around the room facing the television.

"I had some free time during the week," George said. "I got Blaise and Harry to help on their days off. Actually, between the three of us, we have almost everything over here now." He smiled, taking her hand. "I think I will have everything at the other shop finished and then I can open this one, maybe by next week. But definitely not more than two weeks from now. And then you can move here."

"I can't wait," Alessa said sighing. "I know I'll sleep better once I'm here. With you." He smiled too, hugging her again.

"So, you don't need to be back at the castle till monday morning right?" George asked, leading her to the couch to sit.

"Well, I have patrol tomorrow evening from curfew till 11. And I need to talk to McGonagall," she said, frowning as she recalled the conversation she had just had.

"What's wrong?" George asked, drawing her out of thought.

"Well, I had an interesting conversation today, with one of my second year girls," Alessa said. "She told me her younger brother can do what I can, where he leaves his mind and goes to another. She calls it mind walking," Alessa frowned. "I told her I'd go see her brother, they live in an orphanage. Apparently the boy thinks he is a freak of nature, because no one else can mind walk, she asked me to go see him so that he know other people can do it too."

"Do you think he might be like you?" George asked, understanding why she would want to go see him.

"I'm not sure. They don't know who their parents were, and empathy runs in the genes, so there is a chance it's something else that I haven't heard of before," Alessa said, frowning. "But…" She looked up at George. "I have to go see him, just in case. What if he is? I wouldn't be the last one anymore…"

"I didn't realize that bothered you," George said, also frowning.

"I didn't either, until I really thought about it," Alessa said, then she sighed and stood. "Are you hungry? I didn't eat dinner yet."

"Good," George said, standing as well. "I happen to know of several people currently waiting in the Three Broomsticks who are very excited to see you."

"Ginny?" Alessa asked, smiling excitedly now.

"And Harry, Blaise, and Katie," he said, grinning at her excitement. "And James of course."

"Why are we still here then? Let's go!" She grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the stairs. He laughed as he followed her out of the building and down the street to the pub.

* * *

"Good morning Ms. Adams," Alessa said, watching the girl run down the stairs to meet her in front of the Great Hall the next morning.

"Good morning Ms. Sarati," she said, coming to a stop and panting from the run. "I'm sorry I'm late, Professor Longbottom just told me a few minutes ago."

"It's quite alright. I didn't expect the headmistress to allow us to leave on such short notice," Alessa said. She had spoken to McGonagall only an hour ago, and to her surprise, the headmistress had agreed to the visit immediately once Alessa explained that the child was most likely an empath.

"Me neither," Katherine said, finally catching her breath.

"Well come along then, we will Floo to London from my office. Have you ever used the Floo network before?" Alessa asked, leading the girl back up the stairs she had just run down.

"No ma'am," she said, trotting to keep up with Alessa as they walked swiftly down the hall.

"It's simple, I will show you," Alessa said, inwardly smiling at the girl's obvious excitement. The got to her office and Alessa waved her wand, disengaging the wards so they could enter.

"I thought you needed a fireplace to Floo," Katherine said, looking around the office with a frown.

"You do, we will be using the one in my chambers," Alessa said, opening the hidden door. Katherine's eyes widened and she followed Alessa silently, looking around the small room.

"Why is it all empty in here? Don't you live here?" She asked, then gasped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

"It's alright. I actually live in Hogsmeade, I am only using these as temporary chambers while my fiancé finishes moving our belongings. Now, take a handful of this powder," Alessa said, holding a jar out to the girl. "Throw the powder into the flames, then step in and say, very clearly, 'Ministry of Magic'. Make sure to keep your elbow tucked in. Go ahead now, I will be right behind you."

The girl did as she was told, and Alessa followed as soon as the girl had vanished.

"I don't think I like Floo travel very much," Katherine said as Alessa came out of the fireplace behind her.

"I don't think anyone really does, it's just very convenient," Alessa said, chuckling. "Come along, and stay close."

They walked to the guest entrance lift, taking it up to the street level, then walked along the streets for nearly twenty minutes before Alessa finally spotted the orphanage.

"I didn't know we were so close to the ministry," the girl said, crossing the street with Alessa. Before they reached the door, Alessa turned to her.

"Make sure you agree with anything I say, alright?" She said. "Muggles are a little tricky to deal with sometimes." She was sure that whoever ran the place would question who she was and what they were doing there.

"Okay," Katherine said, nodding. Alessa walked up the front steps to the door and rang the bell.

After a few minutes, a middle-aged woman opened the door and looked her over.

"What do you want?" She asked in a rude voice that made Alessa frown slightly.

"My name is Alessa Sarati, I am a professor at Katherine Adams boarding school," Alessa said, moving to the side so the woman could also see Katherine.

"Is she expelled? We aren't taking her back for the year, we are already short on room," the woman said, glaring at the girl, making her shrink back behind Alessa.

"She is not expelled, ma'am. If we may come in I will explain the reason of our visit today," Alessa said, schooling her face into an emotionless mask.

The woman frowned at her, not standing aside.

"Professor you say? You don't look old enough to teach, you're hardly out of school yourself," she said, sneering.

"I am 22 years old and fully qualified to teach. I also have the equivalent of a PhD in medical sciences," Alessa said, raising her eyebrows at the woman who shrunk back a little. "Now, if we may come in?"

Finally she stood aside, motioning through the door and then letting it slam shut behind them. Alessa looked around the halls, seeing that they were clean and orderly.

"So why are you here?" The woman asked, frowning at them again.

"Katherine has been an exemplary student since term started and she has been granted a weekend visit home, she chose to come see her brother as he is her only family, I am her escort," Alessa said, looking back at the woman. "Are you the one responsible for the running of this place, Ms…?"

"Mrs. Peters. My husband and I run this establishment. You can go see the boy if you must, he is on the third floor, second door on the left," she said to Katherine.

"Thank you," the girl said, then looked up at Alessa for permission to go ahead. Alessa nodded and Katherine took off up the stairs.

"It must be a difficult job, looking after all these children," Alessa said, trying to get the woman to relax. Relaxed people were always more likely to go along with whatever Alessa wanted.

"Yes, it's quite the job. We don't receive much city funding anymore, so I can't hire any other assistants besides the two we already have. And more and more little brats just keep flooding in. For ever two we get adopted, three more come in," she said, shaking her head.

"Perhaps you could hire volunteer workers," Alessa suggested after a moment of silence. "You would not be required to pay them, and a lot of high school aged students are looking to volunteer, as universities like to see that on the applications."

"That's not a half bad idea," the woman said, stroking her chin. "We have a lot of kids old enough to do chores, but there are just so many young ones to look after." Alessa nodded, a small smile on her lips, then turned away from the woman to look around the entrance hall again. She had yet to see any children though the woman claimed there were too many there.

After another few moments the woman made an excuse to leave and bustled off to disappear behind a door. Alessa waited until she had left before walking up the stairs to find Katherine and her brother. She knocked on the door the woman had mentioned earlier and waited a few moments for Katherine to pull it open. Alessa walked in, shutting the door behind her, then turned to look at the others. The small boy was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall with his hands wrapped around his legs, staring up at her with wide blue eyes.

"Hello, my name is Alessa. What is yours?" Alessa asked gently, sitting on the other end of the bed and facing him.

He glanced worriedly at his sister, who nodded encouragement, then turned back to face Alessa.

"Seth," he said quietly. Alessa smiled.

"Well Seth, your sister here tells me that you can walk through other people's minds. I was hoping you could show me how you do that," Alessa said, crossing her legs under her. He stared back at her for a moment, then closed his eyes. Alessa closed hers too, going into her mind and making sure that she let her walls down so he wouldn't be blocked out. After a few minutes, she was beginning to doubt him when he suddenly appeared, standing in the middle of the wide hall that was her mind, with his eyes closed. She waited as he peeked out of an eye, then opened both of them wide, staring around him in awe.

"Seth," she said, making him jump and turn around to face her. "Can you explain to me how you got here, please?"

"I just closed my eyes and stretched out," he said, and she nodded, understanding what he meant. "But I've never seen something like this before! It's so… empty."

"Not empty, organized. Do you know how to leave from here and go back to your own self?" She asked. She assumed he did, since he had done this before, with his sister at least. He nodded, then closed his eyes, disappearing from view. Alessa opened her eyes too, to see him staring at her in awe.

"Seth, are there any other things that you can do?" She asked, smiling at him. He nodded enthusiastically.

"I know when people are sad, or happy sometimes. And sometimes when I'm sad, others become sad too," he said, confirming what Alessa had tried not to let herself hope for.

"And how long have you been able to do that?" She asked.

"Last year," he said proudly. She had never heard of abilities manifesting themselves so early.

"And how did you learn that you could go into other peoples minds?" She asked. He looked down then, not answering. "It's okay, you won't get in trouble for it."

"I… was really mad at Kat," he said, glancing at his sister who was listening in silence. "And she was in her room next door, and I wanted her to know I was mad at her, so I just sort of, drifted through the wall and told her. I don't know how."

"I could hear him yelling at me in my head," Kathrine said. "And when I came to his room, he was just sitting with his eyes closed. I pushed him over and he stopped being in my head." Alessa nodded, then turned back to Seth who had shrunk farther against the wall.

"I am like you," she said. "I can do all of those things too."

"Really?" He whispered in awe, staring up at her. Alessa nodded, smiling at him.

"Can you teach me how to make my head like yours?" He asked, sitting up straight now.

"I can when you come to school in a few years," Alessa said, hating that she would have to wait to teach him.

"Oh," he said, frowning and leaning back again. "Can't you take me to the school with Kat now?"

"You can't start until you're eleven," Alessa said, patting his arm. "I'm sorry, but those are the rules."

"Are there more people like us? Can someone else teach me earlier?" He asked, looking up in excitement at the new idea.

"I'm afraid not," Alessa said, shaking her head sadly. "I'm the only other person like you that I know of. We are called Empaths."

"Empaths," he repeated. "So there are no more empaths? Just you and me? Where did they go?"

"They died," she said, frowning. "It used to be dangerous to be an empath, but now it's safer."

"Oh," he said, looking down sadly.

"I'll tell you what," Alessa said, feeling the sadness coming form the small boy. "I'll come to see you one Saturday each month, and I can start teaching you, okay?"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He said, jumping up on the bed to hug her. She laughed, hugging him back, then looked at him seriously.

"But you have to promise me you won't go into other peoples minds," she said, looking him in the eyes so he knew she was serious. "You can't tell anyone else what you can do, okay?"

He nodded fervently, a determined look on his face. Alessa stood then, glancing at the clock sitting on his bedside table.

"We need to get going," Alessa said, looking at the two children, both of which looked sad.

"I'll see you at Christmas Seth," Katherine said, hugging her brother tightly. He began to cry as he hugged her back.

They left the room, and Alessa's heart broke a little as she walked away from the crying child. They made it out to the street, avoiding the rude woman from before.

"Seth hates the orphanage. The other kids pick on him because he is so little for his age. And Mrs. Peters is mean. She always yells," Katherine said as they walked back toward the ministry. Alessa nodded, frowning, but didn't comment. They were silent all the way back to the school when Alessa let Katherine out of her office, bidding her farewell for the day. Alessa floo'd back to the house in time to start lunch for George who had gone back to Diagon Alley for the morning with the promise of returning for lunch.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Hospital Wing

Alessa woke with a start the next morning. Before she had the chance to open her eyes and look around for what had woken her, a sharp pain came from her stomach. She was up and stumbling the bathroom within seconds, just barely making it to the toilet before throwing up. Cool hands smoothed her hair away from her face, holding it behind her.

"Are you alright?" George asked when it seemed she had finished for the moment. Alessa stood and cupped her hands under the faucet so she could rinse out her mouth.

"I think I'm fine. I must have eaten something odd. My stomach hurts," Alessa said, wrapping an arm around her stomach and wincing.

"Do you want to go to St. Mungos?" George asked, frowning in concern. Alessa shook her head, gritting her teeth against the sharp pain.

"I'll just go to the hospital wing. I'm sure Madame Pomfrey will have something to help," Alessa said, leaning against the counter as a headache began to grow. She stumbled when she turned to the door and George caught her before she fell, letting her lean against his shoulder.

"I'll come with you. Let me just grab a shirt. Are you sure you're okay to use the floo right now?" George asked, making sure she was sitting on the bed before he released her and went to find a shirt.

"I'm okay, it's just food poisoning," Alessa said, shaking her head sharply to try to clear her jumbled, half-awake thoughts.

George helped her shrug into a jumper before they flood to her chambers in the castle. Alessa leaned on George as they walked through the halls. It was early enough that no students were wandering the halls yet, most of them preferred to rise late on Sunday's, since there usually wasn't much going on. They stopped twice, allowing Alessa to crouch over in pain, holding her stomach, before they made it to the hospital wing. When George pushed the doors open, they were confronted with the concerned faces of Madame Pomfrey and Luna Lovegood who had obviously been in the middle of a conversation.

"Luna, hello," Alessa said, then doubled over again. Madame Pomfrey fluttered over her, then led her to one of the beds, sitting her on it.

"What's wrong, dear?" She asked, observing the girl.

"I think I ate something bad," Alessa said, wincing. "I woke up with really bad cramps, and I threw up. I also have a headache." Madame Pomfrey nodded, casting various charms over Alessa, all of which told her something or another. She frowned after the last one, tutting. She turned to get something and nearly ran into George who had been hovering behind her.

"If you are going to be in the way, go out in the hall and wait," she said snippily, stepping around him and snatching up a potion from the cupboard nearby.

"Sorry, sorry," George muttered, stepping away to stand on the other side of the bed. Madame Pomfrey glared for a moment, then huffed and turned back to Alessa.

"Drink this," Pomfrey said, shoving the vial into Alessa's hands. She drank it immediately, then nearly gagged.

"What was that?" Alessa asked, coughing.

"That was a pregnancy detection potion," Luna said from behind George, her voice dreamy as she watched them with distant eyes.

"I'm pregnant?" Alessa squeeked, looking between George and Luna. George's jaw had dropped.

"No," Luna said, frowning. "But you were, see that?" She pointed at Alessa's stomach, which Madame Pomfrey had been casting spells on. A black fog had risen from her stomach and was lingering heavily in the air.

"I… was?" Alessa said slowly, frowning in confusion.

"I'm afraid so," Madame Pomfrey said, then looped her arm under Alessa's and hoisted her from the bed. "I need you to come with me for a moment."

Alessa let herself be led across the room, her heart sinking. Madame Pomfrey led her into a brightly lit open room which contained a wide stall.

"Go to the bathroom dear, I'll be outside. Look for bleeding," the elderly woman said gently.

"Bleeding?" Alessa asked dazedly. Her eyes had overflowed moments ago, warm tears making tracks on her cheeks. "Am I… Did I have a miscarriage?"

"I'm afraid so my dear," the woman said sadly, shaking her head in regret. "It's not common in one so young as yourself, but there are many things that could lead to miscarriage. We will discuss it in a moment though, if you will?" She gave Alessa a gentile push toward the stall, then walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Alessa walked slowly to the stall and took care of her business, then she went to the sink to wash up and stared into the mirror for a moment. She used a paper towel to wipe her face clean and she took a few deep breaths. A knock sounded from the door a moment later, and Madame Pomfrey entered the room again.

"Well my dear?" She asked gently, looking at Alessa.

"I am bleeding, and I didn't realize it until now, but I was nearly three weeks late. I thought it was just the stress of beginning to teach, that has happened before when I'm stressed. Sometime's it's just a bit late…" Alessa trailed off, looking at her reflection again.

"I'm sorry dear," she said again, "it's a terrible thing to go through, I know. We should figure out what caused this though, so it can be avoided in the future.

"Yes, okay," Alessa said, finally turning away from the mirror and leaving the room. They walked to Madame Pomfrey's office, closing the door.

"Now, there are many things that can cause miscarriages, if it's common in your family, that is a big factor. Other common reasons include, overworking, copious amounts of stress, malnourishment, physical harm, or incorrectly cast contraceptive charms. Do you know of any of these things that has happened within the last month or so?" Pomfrey said, and Alessa tried to pay attention, but her thoughts were swirling around the thought of a baby, and losing it, though it had to have been only a month along.

"I…" Alessa shook her head, trying to think. "I don't think so, I'm not that overly stressed, and I don't do heavy lifting or anything, and I haven't been hurt…" She trailed off, thinking back.

"And does it run in your family at all?" The old witch asked, looking at Alessa with pity she didn't want to see.

"No, I don't think so… but… a little more than a year ago I, um, spent some time in Azkaban, two months, and I lost a lot of weight there, and it took nearly four months after that for me to be able to eat properly again. Would that have… affected anything?" Alessa said, nearly whispering by the end.

"It could. I can run a few tests for you if you'd like, so we can determine if it's genetics or something else," Pomfrey said kindly, patting the girl on the shoulder. Alessa nodded after a few moments, then stood to follow her back to the main room where George and Luna were standing silently, George pacing and Luna staring up into a corner of the room. Draco Malfoy had also arrived while they were away. He had set a large box of potions on the low table by the door, and was standing with his arms crossed, his eyes darting from George to Luna and back every few seconds, obviously confused and awkward. Alessa walked straight to George who walked up to her quickly, looking concerned. He took one look at her face and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly. Madame Pomfrey exchanged a few words with Draco, who then left the room.

"Luna dear," Pomfrey called from nearby, making Alessa look up from the protective circle of George's arms. "Could you help me with this please? Diagnostic spells are not my strong point, and this particular subject is one you have studied much more that I have."

"Of course," Luna said, drifting over to the bed Alessa had occupied earlier. Alessa now shrugged away from George and went to sit on the bed. "Are we testing for the reasons of miscarriage?" Alessa heard Luna say, and she glanced at George who was watching her. She was worried about what he would say about this. Would he be upset? Probably. She was. Angry? She hoped not, but she had always know that George wanted kids sometime in the near future, and she had wanted them too. What if something was wrong with her?

"Lie back Alessa," Luna said, resting a gentle hand on Alessa's arm, successfully drawing her from her thoughts. "This will only take a couple minutes, and it won't hurt at all." Alessa nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and moved to do as she was told. Luna waved her wand over Alessa, starting at her head and drifting slowly down to her feet, then back up again, muttering words under her breath in a calm tone. Finally she turned and touched the tip of her wand to the top of a paper Madame Pomfrey had brought over with her. Luna broke off the spell, taking the papers from Madame Pomfrey and tucking her wand behind her ear, then reading the tiny lines that had appeared on the paper, her mouth moving slightly as she read.

"I see," Luna said, staring down at the paper. "You may sit up now Alessa." Then she turned and gestured for George to come neared too.

"What is it?" Alessa said, grabbing onto Georges hand tightly as he sat beside her. Luna was still reading the paper, her eyes moving rapidly.

"You miscarried because you have been severely malnourished in the past. Your body doesn't think it is able to support a child, so it got rid of it," she said, eyebrows pulled together in concentration. Then she looked up at Alessa, her eyes more emotional than Alessa had ever seen them before. Luna frowned at her for a moment, then she looked back down at the paper. "I'm sorry, Alessa," she said at last. "I don't think you will ever be able to carry a child. Your body no longer produces the proper amount of hormones to do so."

Alessa looked down, feeling George's hand grip her's tighter. She was afraid to look at his face, worried about what she might see there.

"This potion will help with the stomach pains," Madame Pomfrey said, carrying over a few vials of greenish liquid. "Take a mouthful every two hours or so when you feel you need it. You may feel cramps for the next few days. If you need more of that, just come back and see me." Alessa took the vials from her without looking up. Luna had wandered a few feet from them now, and was looking out the nearby window. Alessa stood and began to walk toward the door, George catching up to her after a few steps. At the door Alessa turned back.

"Luna," she called, making the other girl turn. "Can you… not say anything to Ginny about this? I don't really want to have her trying to talk to me about it."

"Of course not," Luna said in an airy voice. "It's not my business to talk about."

"Thank you," Alessa said, then turned back to the doors. George followed her through the halls silently as they dodged the few students who were now awake. A couple of them gave Alessa a curious look, and it wasn't until she was back in her classroom that she realized she was still wearing her pajama's, sweat pants and a jumper. She sighed, then entered her office, and began pushing the door to her chambers open.

"Uh, Alessa?" George asked from the doorway, his hands held up in front of him. She turned in his direction, not loping at him. "Why can't I get in?"

"Huh?" She asked, finally looking up. He moved his hands as if they were hitting a solid object in front of him. "Oh, it's just the wards I have." She reached for her wand, only to realize that she hadn't grabbed it from her bedside table that morning. "Um, I have to go home and get my wand, I'll just be a minute." She turned, not giving him a chance to protest as she walked into her room.

She was back within two minutes, and she waved her wand from her room, not bothering to go back out to her office again. She heard George let out an oomph, and she almost smiled at the thought of him falling through the doorway, then her face dropped as he walked into the room and shut the door behind him. She waved her wand to reestablish the wards, then sat on the bed, letting her hands fall into her lap. She fiddled idly with her wand for a few moments, avoiding George's gaze. He watched her for a while, then he sighed and walked over to stand in front of her, using a hand under her chin to tilt her head up. She kept her eyes lowered, not meeting his gaze.

"Alessa," he said harshly, the tone making her flinch. She turned her head away from his grip and he sighed again, sitting beside her. "Alessa," he said again, softly. "Please look at me." She turned her head toward him, her eyes flicking up for a second, then back down. He pulled her in, cradling her head against her chest, and a few tears leaked out of her eyes. "We need to talk about this," he muttered into her hair.

"I don't want to talk about it," she whispered, a few more tears falling. He pulled back suddenly, holding her by the shoulders now as she stared into her lap again, half turned toward him.

"Stop it," he said, making her look up in surprise. "I know you are blaming yourself for all of this right now. Don't you dare." She looked down again, her eyes blurred with tears.

"But this is my fault," she said quietly. "My body doesn't work the right way." She let out a small sob.

"You can't have children," he said, shaking her shoulders a bit. Than he swallowed, steeling himself to continue. "So what? We don't need kids."

She looked up at him again, staring into his face.

"You want children though," she said, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

"I want you more," he said, looking straight into her eyes. "Having kids was just… something I thought I wanted in the future. But I have you now, and if we can't have kids… then that's okay. This doesn't change anything. I still want to marry you. And I still want to spend my life with you," he smoothed her hair away from her face, then ran his fingers along the side of her face gently. She let her eyes drift closed, a few more tears leaking out. He cupped her face, rubbing his thumb across her cheek, wiping away the tears. She leaned into his hand, setting her own over it.

"I'm sorry," she said after a moment of silence, then leaned back into him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and sighed against her hair, resting his face against the top of her head.

"It's okay," he said, smoothing her hair down in a comforting manner. After a few minutes she pulled away and stood.

"Can we go home for now? Lets just… watch a movie or something," she said, turning away from him again, her eyes falling to the ground.

"Of course," he said, reaching over to grab her hand. His thumb ran in small soothing circles against the back of her hand, and she relaxed a little.

* * *

The next morning Alessa had to force herself to get out of bed. George was still asleep when she had finished showering and dressing, so she scribbled a short note to him and left it next to his wand, then she went to the living room of their house to floo back to the school.

She trudged through the halls to breakfast, trying to keep herself from frowning as she walked. She took a deep breath outside the hall, schooling her face into an emotionless mask, then took a step forward, only to whip around as a hand rested on her shoulder.

"You alright?" Draco asked, eyebrows raised as she wiped around.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last minute, you were completely zoned out," he said, a smirk gracing his face.

"Oh, sorry," she said distractedly, watching a few students come down the hall toward them. He frowned then, his eyebrows pulling together.

"Were you going in?" He nodded toward the Great Hall.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," she said, turning back to him. They walked between the tables together, reaching the head table at the same time as Neville stepped through a side door nearby. He caught her eye and hurried over as she sat.

"Alessa, how are you?" He asked, taking his seat nest to her.

"I'm fine, why?" She asked, scooping a spoonful of eggs onto her plate.

"Luna said you were in the hospital wing yesterday, is everything alright?" He asked, spooning food onto his plate as well.

"Yes, I was also wondering about that," Draco said from her other side. She looked between them.

"I'm fine, I just ate something that had gone bad," she said, looking down at her plate. "Madame Pomfrey gave me a potion, and now I'm fine."

"Good, good," Neville said, then turned to talk to Professor Sinistra, who had sat down on his other side.

"Food poisoning? Weasley looked like he was about to have a panic attack," she heard Draco say quietly. She glances at him, raising an eyebrow. "It just seemed an extreme reaction," he said, catching her look.

"Yes, well, he worries too much," Alessa said, shrugging it off. She took another bite of food, not really paying attention to her surroundings until an owl settled on the back of her chair, snapping its beak at her braid. She looked around, smiling at Apollo, and fed him a few pieces of bread, then untied the note from his leg and he jumped, taking flight.

"More love notes?" Draco drawled from his seat. She rolled her eyes as she unfolded the paper, then she smiled lightly. All it said was 'I love you' with no signature, but she recognized George's handwriting. She tucked it into her robe. "What, do you keep a collection of those? Do you keep them under your pillow and giggle at them before you go to bed?"

"I do keep them, not that it's any of your business," she snapped, taking a sip of coffee.

"Sorry Mother, don't give me detention," he said, chuckling. Alessa coughed.

"What did you just say?" She asked, turning to from at him. He looked confused.

"To not give me detention? It was a joke?" He said, plainly wondering if she and gone crazy.

"No, you called me Mother. Why?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh, didn't you know thats what the kids all call you? It's been going around since the first week. I think it started with the first years, but I've heard it from the others too," he said, leaning back in his chair and looking around the hall. "I overheard a seventh year girl yesterday saying that she liked your classes because you reminded her of her mother, and her friends all agreed," he looked back at her for a moment and she cleared the frown from her face. "Does it bother you?" She sighed, looking down at her plate.

"No, it's fine," she said.

"Doesn't sound fine," he commented. "You really should be flattered. They all like you enough to give you a nickname. And a nice one at that. They call me the Dragon."

"Yes, I heard that," Alessa said, finally breaking a smile. "A few of them have complained to me about you. The first years are all scared of you, and one of my third years said your eyes look like they could kill with just a glance." She giggled.

"Good, they should be afraid of me," he said, nodding solemnly. "They behave better when they think I'm going to kill them." He took a bite, then turned to her again. "They complain to you?"

"Yes. The first, second, and third years have my class four times a week instead of three like the other years, so I spend their friday classes focusing on subjects they want to talk about. Usually it's class related, but I've found that, since my subject is awkward for them, they are more comfortable if they think they can talk to me as a friend, rather than a teacher. It's worked well so far, many of them come forward with questions that they would have never asked if they were frightened of me as they are of you," she explained, smiling slightly. She had started what she called 'Discussion Day' because she had planned on having three lessons a week for each year, and she hadn't planned any extra lessons for the younger students.

"No one could be afraid of you, you're about as scary as a puppy, and about the same size," he said, smirking again. She laughed. "Well, it's no wonder they call you Mother then, if you let them come to you for every little thing."

"That's the point of my class though," she said, rolling her eyes again. "Obviously they will need someone to talk to about these things eventually."

"I know," Draco said, finishing the food on his plate. "I was just saying that you can't really be surprised." He stood and walked away from the table then, not saying goodbye. She watched him leave, then sighed. As nicknames went, she knew that Mother was by far one of the better ones that children could come up with.

* * *

The week passed quickly, more and more students coming to her before and after classes, sometimes with questions, some just to talk for a few minutes. She was glad they liked her, though she could have done without the nickname. It gave her a little jolt every time she heard it, which wasn't too often as they seemed to only use it outside of class. But a few times through the week she had overheard sentences like "I've got Mother's class tonight," or "I'll meet you there, I just need to go ask Mother something," and "Did you finish that paper for Mother?"

She only heard it now that Draco had pointed it out, and she did find it slightly funny, even if it did constantly remind her that she would never be a mother.

She sighed, getting the attention of Blaise who had met her for lunch the next Saturday.

"What are you sighing about?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. The Three Broomsticks was slightly crowded, but they had managed to grab a secluded table near the back of the large room. George had opened his shop a few days ago, and it seemed like a lot of the current patrons had visited it already, as she had heard several people mention it since they had arrived.

"Nothing," she said, playing with the fry she had picked up moments ago.

"Bull shit, tell me," he said, leaning across the table. She looked up at him for a moment, then glanced back down at her plate.

"The kids gave me a nickname," she began, dragging the fry through her ketchup again, making a design on her plate.

"Oh no, is it something mean? I know we had some pretty bad ones for them when I was at school," he said, then chuckled a the memory.

"No, it's not mean. They call me Mother," she said, her lips twitching up a bit as he laughed loudly.

"It fits," he said. "You are very motherly. You have forced me to eat my vegetables every time you eat with me. I'm surprised you haven't forced Katie to do the same," he said, still chuckling, then he frowned, watching her. "That's not a bad nickname you know. They could have done worse."

"Oh I know," Alessa said, looking up. "They call Draco 'The Dragon' because they think he is going to swoop down and kill them if they do something wrong." Blaise laughed at that.

"It's fitting," he said.

"I found out last weekend that it is unlikely that I will ever be able to have children," Alessa said, making the grin fall off his face.

"I'm sorry," he said, reaching an arm across the table and patting his arm. "That… sucks."

"Yeah," she said, finally abandoning the fry. They sat in awkward silence for a couple minutes, neither of them really knowing what else to say. "I've been meaning to ask you," she said, making him jump slightly. "Did your father have any siblings?"

"Hm," he said, raising a questioning eyebrow at the subject. "He had a sister once. I believe she died though, seven or eight years ago. They never spoke when he was alive and she never came to visit when he had died. I only know she died because Grandma brought it up one time. Why?"

"Did she ever marry?" Alessa asked.

"I think she might have," Blaise said, watching her.

"Did she have children?" Alessa asked, leaning forward in her seat now.

"I don't know, why?" Blaise said, frowning now.

"I met a child who is like me," she said, leaning back. "He lives in an orphanage in London, his parents died right after he was born and he doesn't know his birth name. I thought about it for a while, and I realized I never asked if there were more family members on your side." She shrugged.

"I suppose she could have had children. And they wouldn't have been brought to us when she died, she was pretty much disowned by my grandfather before he died," Blaise said, thinking. "Does he look like us at all?"

"Well, sort of, I guess. He and his sister both have blue eyes, but they have black hair, and they might be part Italian," she said, thinking back. She hadn't been paying much attention.

"Can't you ask the orphanage? They would have records I'd think," he said.

"I asked Hermione about that a few days ago when she was in town. She said muggles don't release things to anyone usually, unless they can prove they are related."

"So just pretend to be related," Blaise said, shrugging.

"I can't, the woman who runs the place already knows my name, and if your dad's sister was married, who knows what their last name would be," Alessa said, sighing.

"So go there at night and sneak in," he said in an obvious tone of voice. "Just use magic."

"I'm not going to do that, I could get in trouble and the ministry would love to have me back again with a reason to send me to Azkaban," she said. He winced.

"Sorry," he said. Then thought for a moment. "Well I could pretend to be related. You could come with me."

"Hmm," Alessa said. "Maybe. I'd have to ask Hermione what kind of proof they need."

"Well, let me know when. I'm free most Saturday's now, my day off got changed and Katie works all afternoon," Blaise said, then he stood.

"Okay," Alessa said, standing as well. "I'll send you an owl. Thanks for coming up for lunch." They made their way through the crowded room and out to the road. She hugged him goodbye, and as she pulled back, he caught her arm, pulling her left hand up to his face.

"Is this an engagement ring?" He asked, his voice an octave higher than normal causing her to giggle.

"Yep," she said, pulling her hand back.

"When did that happen? Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, following her as she walked toward the shop.

"Well, I told Ginny, and she told Harry. And George told the rest of his family. I just assumed you would have heard," she said, tucking her hands into her coat pockets.

"So I'm the last one to know?" He said in a sad voice, frowning. She stopped, looking up at him.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I should have told you. I just figured Ginny would have told everyone when she found out."

"Well, as long as I'm invited, I guess it's okay," Blaise said, smiling slightly again.

"Of course you are invited. Actually…" she said, trailing off slightly. "Actually, I was hoping you would walk me down the isle."

"What!" He said, coming to a stop again. "You want me to-"

"You're my only family," she reminded him, looking up at him again.

"Wow, of course I will. I'd be honored," he said, mock bowing, making his hair flop forward. She laughed again as he stood, his hair sticking up.

"Zabini!" A voice called from down the street. They both turned to see Draco waving an arm at them. They both stood, waiting for him to catch up. "Are you royalty now Ms. Sarati?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Forcing your subjects to bow?" He waved a hand at Blaise who laughed.

"I don't force them, they bow to me willingly," she said, sniffing. She raised her nose in the air and tossed her braid over her shoulder regally, nearly hitting him in the face with it. She cracked a smile and they both laughed at her.

"I thought I saw you out here," George said, coming down the steps of his shop. "Why is Blaise bowing to you in the streets?" He asked, approaching the small group with raised eyebrows.

"Everyone's a critic," she said, sighing dramatically. George laughed, draping an arm over her shoulder and turning her toward the shop.

"Have you two seen the new shop yet?" He asked over his shoulder. Blaise fell into step behind them, and after a moments hesitation, Draco followed as well.

Once inside the shop, the three men looked through the aisles of products as Alessa went to sit on the chair behind the counter, picking up the book she had been reading before lunch.

"If you swear to use this to mess with Flitch, I'll let you have it for free," George said, causing Alessa to look up from her reading fifteen minutes later.

"You are a professor," she said, frowning at Draco and George where they stood a few feet away. "You shouldn't be breaking school rules."

"Sorry Mother," Draco said, rolling his eyes. "I won't misbehave when you are around."

"Mother?" George asked, narrowing his eyes at Draco for a moment, then glancing up at Alessa, plainly asking if Draco was making fun of her. She shook her head.

"It's what the students have decided to nickname me," she said, causing him to frown.

"You can tell the to stop," he said, turning toward her now, causing Draco to form a confused expression at his seriousness.

"It's alright, I don't mind," she said, looking him in the eyes so he knew she wasn't lying. He nodded after a moment, turning back to Draco who was looking between them. Blaise walked up behind them at that moment, holding up some individually wrapped candies.

"These are brilliant. I wish I had know about these when I was in school, I could have used a few," he said.

"I wouldn't have sold to you anyway," George said, grinning. "You all were gits in school." Blaise just laughed.

Draco had picked up a package and was reading the back of it, he didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Hey Blaise, when is your wedding again?" He asked a moment later, and Blaise glanced over his shoulder.

"I'm not inviting you if you are going to ruin it," he said, frowning. "Go ruin theirs instead."

"No way," Alessa said, scowling at him. "Your just mad because no one told you."

"He didn't know? I thought Ginny told everyone," George said, taking the package from Draco's hands.

"No one told me," Blaise said, pouting now. "I'm always the last to find out about everything," he said dramatically. Alessa smacked his arm.

"Shut up," she said, rolling her eyes. "Katie probably doesn't know either since she didn't tell you." He brightened at that.

"By the way, did she tell you the dates yet?" George asked, leaning around the corner of the isle he had just walked down, his eyes glinting in mischief.

"No," Blaise said, turning back. "I didn't know you had set a date yet. When is it?"

"We haven't set a date," Alessa said, frowning in confusion.

"Yes we did," George said, raising an eyebrow. "Anytime before his."

"Oh yeah," Alessa said, grinning as Blaise sputtered.

"What? Why?" He finally got out.

"Because you have been annoying as fuck about your wedding. You made fun of me all summer," Alessa said, laughing.

"Well I'm not coming to your wedding then," he said, pouting. Alessa laughed.

"Yes you will. I'm your only family, you wouldn't want to leave me alone on the most important day of my life, would you?" She said, giving him the sad eyes.

"Ug," he said, throwing his hands up. "Fine, whatever." Alessa and George grinned. "But I'm telling Ginny you set the date and didn't tell her."

"No," Alessa said, her eyes widening. "She would kill me."

"Exactly," he said, grinning wickedly.

"Don't worry, I'll send her an owl later," George said. "Hermione stopped by earlier, she gave me this to give to you," he handed her a letter.

"She was here? Damn, I need to ask her what sort of things muggles need to prove their identity to one another," she said, sighing.

"Still on about that orphan?" George asked.

"Well yeah," she said, following him back around the desk. "I just have to know."

"Muggles have little plastic identification cards," Draco said from behind the group, causing them all to start. Alessa had forgotten he was even there. "They have their pictures and some other writing on them."

"How do you know that?" Blaise asked, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I lived in muggle London before coming here," he said, shrugging.

"You lived as a muggle?" Blaise asked incredulously. Draco shrugged.

"I didn't want to stay at the manor," he said, staring at the wall. Blaise's face softened slightly, and he nodded.

"Would you be able to replicate one of the muggle things?" Alessa asked, causing the awkward silence that had fallen to break.

"Maybe," he said, then he fished his wallet out of his robes and flipped it open. "I have one, but I'm not too good at replication charms, plus you would need to make the picture and name different," he said, dropping a card on the counter in front of her. She looked at it for a moment, then looked up.

"Can I borrow this for a few days? I think I know how to make one," she said. He nodded and she tucked it into the pocket of her jeans.

"I can't believe you lived as a muggle," George said, shaking his head in disbelief a few seconds later. "You of all people."

Draco shrugged but didn't comment.

"Is that why you are so much less of a git now?" George asked, smiling slightly. Alessa elbowed him, making him laugh.

"Probably," Draco siad, shrugging. "Being a git takes too much effort."

George grinned, as Blaise laughed. Even Draco broke a smile. Alessa shook her head at them, then glanced at the clock.

"I need to go, I'm meeting with a few students in ten minutes," she said, standing. She hugged Blaise goodbye again and he and Draco left the shop, arguing about something or other. George walked her to the back door of the shop, then kissed her gently.

"Are you sure you are okay with the nickname?" He asked as he drew away.

"It's fine," she said, forcing a small smile onto her face. "It's even sort of funny sometimes."

He smiled down at her, then hugged her again before letting her go back to the house to floo to the castle.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Relations

The next week of classes passed slowly for Alessa. She found it difficult to concentrate during her meditation classes, and she often just assigned reading during the class because she lost her train of thought often. A few of the students had noticed the change in the classes, and she heard them muttering to each other sometimes, but she ignored them. George noticed the preoccupation of her thoughts too, but every time he brought up the subject, she changed it.

Sunday morning found her reading through essay's from her sixth year students about anatomy. She was nearly done with the stack as she had spent all of the previous day working on them as well. She sighed as her eyes drifted over the same sentence she had been reading for the last twenty minutes or so, and she set the paper down, groaning.

"Tired of grading assignments?" A voice called from the doorway making her look up.

"Hermione," she said, her lips beginning to pull into a small smile. "What brings you here?"

"George asked me to come," she shrugged, then walked into the room to sit in one of the chairs in front of Alessa.

"George did? What for?" Alessa asked, brows pulled together in confusion.

"He told me that he thought you could do with someone to talk to that wasn't as… enthusiastic as Ginny," Hermione said, smiling softly as she chose her words carefully. Alessa laughed, understanding exactly what she meant, then she frowned.

"Did he tell you what I should talk about?" She asked, unsure of what Hermione had been told. George had agreed not to tell anyone when she had asked, but she knew that if he was worried about her he would break that promise.

"Not really. He said you have been feeling down about personal things, and he thought it would do you good to talk about them, he seemed worried, but you don't need to talk to me about anything if you'd rather not," Hermione said, leaning back in her seat.

"Do you want some tea?" Alessa asked, deciding that she may as well talk to Hermione, she was understanding and patient but she wouldn't give Alessa unwanted pity like Ginny would.

"Sure," Hermione said, then stood to shrug off her jacket. Alessa called for a house elf from the kitchens, asking if he would please bring them some tea. The elf squeaked his reply, disappeared, then reappeared quickly. Hermione thanked the elf as well, then frowned as it left but quickly let the frown fall away.

"So…" Alessa said, sipping her cup. She was unsure where to start. "During my stint in Azkaban when I couldn't keep food down for a long time, I became malnourished. And a few weeks ago I found out that a side affect of that is," she took a deep breath before continuing, glancing at the wall behind Hermione. "I can't have kids anymore. I've just been… taking it kind of badly I guess. I didn't mean to worry anyone, it just… came as a surprise is all."

"Hmm," Hermione said, showing she was listening. "Did they say for sure that you can't have kids, or did they say it would be dangerous to have them?"

"Luna said it was unlikely that I could carry them, because my body had been malnourished, it thinks that a baby is a danger to it, so it kills the cells before they develop," Alessa said, looking down into her cup of tea.

"Well, do you still get periods? After you left Azkaban I mean?" Hermione asked, looking like she was deep in thought. Alessa nodded, then realized that Hermione wasn't paying attention.

"Yes. Not for the first few months afterwords, but since then I have," Alessa said, not in the slightest embarrassed anymore, now that she was used to teaching the subject.

"Well then," Hermione said, sitting forward. She was smiling a little, which surprised Alessa. "Muggles have the thing called 'Hormone Treatments' where they give you the fake hormones that your body is missing to carry a baby. I have never read about a wizarding alternative, but I didn't like potions much, so there might be something of the kind. Otherwise, if you really would like kids, I can help you find a muggle doctor and you can try their treatments."

Alessa's mouth had fallen open. She had never even thought something like that existed, but now she could see a picture forming in her mind again, of a tiny baby, and a family of her own. She squashed out the picture as soon as she saw it forming. She didn't want to get her hopes up.

"There might be a wizarding alternative?" Alessa asked, focusing back on Hermione.

"I wouldn't know. You could ask Madame Pomfrey, but she specializes in general healing, not potions," Hermione said, then her mouth twisted a little. "You could ask Malfoy, he would probably know, being the potions master."

Alessa raised an eyebrow at Hermione, wondering about the twist of the mouth, but Hermione either didn't see her, or ignored her.

"Would you come with me to ask? You know more about all this than I do," Alessa said, pushing her chair back and abandoning her still full mug of tea on her desk. Hermione hesitated, but stood too, nodding.

The two women made their way down the staircases, a few students giving Hermione an odd look as she was dressed in muggle clothes. Finally they came to the potions room and Alessa pushed the door open, and they made their way through an isle of empty desks to the office where they could plainly see light. Hermione stood back a bit as they approached, so Alessa was the one to knock on the door frame, making Draco look up from his desk in surprise.

"Hi, are you busy? I was hoping we could talk to you for a few minutes," Alessa said from the door way. Draco looked shocked that someone would willingly come to the dungeons to talk to him, but he nodded, gesturing her inside. She walked in and as she moved to the side, she saw Draco's face change as he caught sight of Hermione behind her. He almost looked scared, but he cleared the emotions from his face.

"What can I do for you?" He asked, looking only at Alessa as he talked. Alessa glanced between him and Hermione, confused, but the stony mask on Hermione's face told her not to ask.

"Well, Hermione told me about a treatment the muggles use, and I was hoping that if there was a wizarding alternative, you would know," she said, looking away from both of them now. She didn't realize it would be so awkward to tell a coworker about this, and now she was half tempted to stand and make an excuse to leave, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

"What is the muggle treatment for?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Alessa opened her mouth, but closed it again, not able to say anything. She cleared her throat and tried again, but sank back in her seat. Draco was looking throughly confused by this point, and he glance at Hermione.

"Granger, can you elaborate please?" He asked in a cold voice. She narrowed her eyes, then glanced at Alessa, who shrugged.

"The muggles have a hormone treatment that enables women who have had injury in the past and are now unable to bear children a higher possibility of doing so. Estrogen is the chemical naturally produced by women and often the inability to carry a child comes from an imbalance or low estrogen levels, this treatment used artificially made estrogen to bring the levels back to normal which would allow the woman in question to possible conceive," she said, sitting straight in her chair and watching a spot just over Draco's shoulder.

"Textbook answers as usual," he commented, making her narrow her eyes again. He held up his hands. "Just kidding."

Hermione sniffed, looking away, this time catching Alessa's confused look. She shook her head again.

"So what you are asking for is something that returns the ability to have children to someone who has lost that ability?" Draco asked, making both girls look back at him. "There are a few things that might be sort of like that," he said, then turned to his bookshelf, running his fingers over the book spines in search of one. "It would really depend on the original reason."

"Original reason?" Alessa asked as he found the book he wanted and returned to his desk, standing over it as he flipped though the book. He stopped on a page, glanced over it, then frowned and went back to find another book.

"Yeah, the thing that caused the person in question to become unable to have kids," he grabbed another book, then turned. "I'm assuming that you are asking for yourself," he said, raising an eyebrow at Alessa, who nodded slowly, a frown on her face. "Was it injury, or genetics, or what? Do you know what happened to cause it? If you were ever able to conceive in the first place, it would probably be easier to fix, but if it wasn't possible to begin with, than I'm not sure." He was looking down at his current book, which made it a lot easier for Alessa to answer.

"It was malnutrition for about six months. I was able to conceive originally," she said, looking at her lap. She could see Hermione frown out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you sure? A lot of people don't know until they do to a doctor," she said, turning her head toward Alessa.

"I'm sure," Alessa said firmly. Hermione's eyes widened slightly, then she nodded and turned away. Draco had been running his fingers down a page of his book, not listening, but he looked up when they fell silent.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Draco asked, a sheepish look on his face. "What was the reason?"

"Malnutrition," Alessa repeated. "A nice side affect of prison. As if the dementors weren't enough," she said, trying to get rid of the awkwardness in the room. Draco chuckled, making Hermione raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Dementors definitely make you lose your appetite," he said, glancing over his book again. "We don't have anything exactly like what the muggle treatment entails. There are potions that are supposed to make sure the baby is whatever gender you want, but I don't think they actually work. Hmm…" he flipped another couple pages. "There is this one," he tapped the page frowning. "It increases the chances of conceiving, but I'm not sure if that is what you need. I'd say your best bet is to try the muggle solution. I can keep looking though," he said, bookmarking the page before closing the book with a thump.

"Thank you," Alessa said, standing from her chair as well, a small smile on her face. Hermione stood too, walking to the doorway.

"Do you want a dreamless sleep potion? You look like you haven't slept in a month," Draco said, walking with them into the classroom.

Alessa stuck her tongue out at him, making him smile in return. Then she frowned for a moment. She hadn't been sleeping well, not since term had started, maybe a sleeping draught was what she needed.

"Actually, yeah. I could use a good nights sleep," Alessa said, then accepted the vial he shoved into her hands. "Thank you."

"No problem," he said, then he adopted a nervous expression and turned to Hermione, who had been standing near the door, waiting for Alessa.

"Hermione," he said, making her look up in shock. "I wanted to apologize," he said, making her eyes widen even more. "For being a … git, in school."

"A git?" She repeated, her face smoothing back over.

"Well, worse than a git, I guess," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. A small smile was growing on Hermione's face now.

"I'd say," she said, chuckling, which made Draco look up again. "But I think I got you back when I punched you and broke your nose in third year and you cried like a girl. You are forgiven."

"I didn't cry like a girl!" He protested, making her grin. He turned to Alessa who was now suppressing giggles. "I didn't cry." She burst out laughing.

"Hermione punched you in the face?" Alessa asked, covering her mouth now.

"He deserved it," she said, shrugging.

"I did," Draco agreed, then turned to Hermione again. "Thank you. I expected you to yell, or punch me again or something."

"I'm not big on yelling," she responded. "I may still punch you, if you ever annoy me." He chuckled slightly, making Hermione shake her head as she walked towards the door, Alessa trailing behind.

"Thanks Draco," she said, waving as they left the room.

They walked back to Alessa's office in silence, Alessa was in a slightly better mood than she had been in a couple weeks.

"So you and Draco didn't get along in school?" Alessa asked, leading Hermione thorough her office door.

"No," Hermione said, resuming her previous seat. "It's very odd to see him laughing. Or do anything besides sneering. He was a complete tosser in school. But I guess everyone grew up quickly after the war, including him." She sighed, then looked back at Alessa with a brow raised. "Didn't you ever have run ins with him and his friends while you were at school? You were only a year ahead of us."

"I might have seen him a few times around school," Alessa said, waving her wand over her tea to warm it up again. "But I mostly stayed to myself. I never really talked to anyone unless it was in class."

"That sounds nice," Hermione said, her mouth twitching into a smile. "I got dragged everywhere by those two idiots I call my friends. I would have liked spending all my time in a peaceful environment." Alessa shrugged. She might have enjoyed school more if she'd had actual friends.

"Thanks for coming with me, even though you don't like Draco," Alessa said, smiling slightly.

"You're welcome," Hermione said, then stood. "I'd better be going, I promised Professor McGonagall I would stop by with some documents from the ministry. If you would like, I can do a little bit of researching about the muggle hormone treatments for you."

"If you aren't busy," Alessa said. "I'll read up on how all that works, but I don't really know anything about choosing a muggle doctor, there are so many of them, and I'm not really sure how muggle money works either," she admitted, smiling sheepishly.

"That's fine, I'll help you if you decide to go through with it. Make sure you read about the side effects too, there might be bad things about the treatments, I've never studied them before so I wouldn't know," Hermione said, then turned to leave the office, bidding Alessa goodbye. Alessa sat in silence for a few moments after she left, thinking about the muggle treatments, then she went back to her grading, wanting to finish all the essays before the next class day.

* * *

Between the dreamless sleep potions and the research into muggle treatments, Alessa was feeling much better by the following weekend. She had been noticeably more concentrated during her lessons, and she was finally starting to lose the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't told George about what Hermione had told her, she wasn't really sure what she wanted to do. Everything she read told her that, in her condition, it would be dangerous to try to have a child, even with treatments, it might not survive full term. Alessa knew she should talk to George about the whole situation, but he was already worried about her, worried about getting the new shop running, worried about the old shop continuing to run smoothly, she didn't want to add more to his plate. Hermione had owl'd her a list of different muggle professionals that she recommended if Alessa decided to use them, and Alessa had sent her back a letter saying she would let Hermione know when she made a decision. She had made up her mind to talk to George that weekend, but he had been quite busy at the shop, seeing as it was the first weekend that year that the students were allowed to come into town.

Alessa had spent all Saturday morning working behind the counter at the shop with George, giving the students suspicious glares as they bought various joke items.

"Stop scaring off my customers," George said, coming up behind her as a third year boy eyed her nervously from the next shelf over.

"I'm not," Alessa said, sniffing. "And as long as they don't use your things to get out of my classes, I won't give them detention either."

"We wouldn't," A seventh year girl said from nearby then blushed as Alessa looked at her. Her two friends nearby giggled, making her blush harder. "Sorry, Professor. I didn't mean-"

"Who's classes would you try to get out of then?" Alessa asked, raising an eyebrow at them. The two girls farther away continued to giggle at their friends misfortune of being caught. She glanced back at her friends, who were covering their mouths now, whispering.

"Um, we wouldn't skip classes?" The first girl said, making her answer sound like a question. Alessa resisted a grin.

"I can tell when you are lying," Alessa told her, straight faced. The girl looked down and muttered something Alessa couldn't hear. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"I said, maybe Professor Malfoy's classes," she said, barely above a whisper. George laughed loudly behind her, and Alessa couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Is he really that bad? I always hear everyone saying that he is frightening, but I don't see it," Alessa said, leaning across the counter toward the girls, who also took a few steps closer, now that they didn't think Alessa was going to get them in trouble. They immediately started gossiping with her about all the things Draco had done to students who misbehaved in class, and how he would walk around pointing out the tiniest mistakes in everything. Alessa's smile grew until they finally stopped telling their stories of times they had been caught in class. George had wandered off to help another customer.

"Surely he isn't as bad as Professor Snape used to be. You three must have had him your first year at least," Alessa said, now fully leaning against the counter. The girls exchanged glances.

"Well, no, Professor Malfoy isn't as mean as Professor Snape was," the first girl said. "But he's still the meanest teacher we have."

"Well then, you probably shouldn't be skipping his classes," she said, smiling as the girls all sighed and began to put their "Skiving Snackboxes" back on the shelves. "But," she said, and they paused. She gestured them in as if she were telling a secret. They leaned in close to listen. "As long as you promise not to skip anything really important, I won't tell." The girls all smiled, giggling.

They left the shop five minutes later, waving cheerfully back at Alessa, who smiled.

"They really like you don't they?" George asked, watching them go.

"Of course they like her, she's practically one of them," A voice said from behind them, making them turn. "Same height too."

"Funny Draco," Alessa said, rolling her eyes.

"What were you gossiping with them about anyway?" He asked, coming up to the counter and pulling three vials out of his cloak, setting them neatly in front of him. Alessa raised an eyebrow.

"Were you just skulking around watching us?" She asked, smirking.

"Not at all, but I could hear you all giggling from the other side of the room," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Since when do you spend time here willingly?" George asked, eyeing the vials.

"I don't," he said. "I just came to drop these off for her, you must be running low by now," he said to Alessa who nodded, tucking the vials into her own pockets.

"Thanks," she said, and he nodded. "We were gossiping about how mean you are to all your students."

"Mean?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Then he smirked. "What did they say, exactly?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you, gossip stays between girls," Alessa said airily, returning the smirk. Draco huffed. "They did say you aren't as bad as Professor Snape was though, if that cheers you up."

"Cheers me up? No way. I'll have to try harder," he said, frowning in mock anger. Alessa laughed.

"Are you all just the best of friends now?" Blaise asked, coming through the door and spotting them laughing.

"Oh yes, we are all chummy now. In fact, I've asked Draco to replace your part in my wedding, I won't be needing you after all. Consider yourself uninvited," Alessa said.

"You, miss, have been becoming much too sarcastic lately," Blaise said, walking up to the counter. "Pretty soon I won't be able to tell you and Ginny apart." Alessa laughed, then took in Blaise's attire.

"Why are you wearing muggle clothes? And very bad muggle clothes at that?" She asked, observing the orange plaid sweater and bright blue jeans that had gone out of style twenty years before.

"What? I got this from a muggle shop, it's muggle," he said, frowning down at his clothes. Alessa giggled.

"Have you ever been in the muggle world? Nobody has worn things like that in decades," Alessa said. "Why muggle clothes anyway?"

"You said we were going to that muggle orphanage today, don't you remember?" Blaise said, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Alessa said, frowning. It had slipped her mind with everything that had happened in the past week. "Will you be okay working by yourself for a while or do you need me to stay?" She asked, turning to George, who smiled softly.

"I'll be fine, most of the kids are heading back to school already, it looks like it might rain," he said. Alessa could feel the worry coming off of him though, stronger than it had been earlier. She tilted her head, frowning slightly. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she lifted one back. He shook his head, making her frown more.

"Blaise, I'll be right back, I just need to grab my coat," she said, glancing at him, then she turned and grabbed George's arm, towing him into the small back room behind the counter. "What is it?"

"What are you talking about?" George asked, but he sighed.

"You know what I'm talking about," she said, frowning in concern now. "Why are you worried more right now that you were earlier? What happened?"

"What are those potions Malfoy brought for you?" He asked, a small crease forming between his eyebrows.

"Just the dreamless sleep potion I've been using," Alessa said, confused. George looked at her for a moment.

"I didn't know you had to take those. Is that why you have been sleeping better?" He asked, running a hand down her arm to catch hold of her hand.

"Yeah, I thought you knew that," she said, tilting her head. He shook his head, then closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Are you okay? Really okay?" He asked softly. She closed her eyes, letting her breath out slowly.

"I will be," she said, smiling softly. "Sometime's its just hard for me to sleep, but I will be fine," she said, then opened her eyes to look into his. He stared into her eyes for a long moment, searching. Finally he must have found something that convinced him she was telling the truth, and he pulled back, kissing her forehead. She smiled up at him, then hugged him quickly, grabbed her coat, and left the room.

"About time," Blaise said, frowning at her. Draco had left sometime in the five minutes they were in back, and Blaise was standing in front of the counter impatiently.

"Sorry," Alessa said, then led him out the door. She apperated them to a rarely used side street near the orphanage, and they walked two blocks, fighting the blisteringly cold wind that hit them the moment they landed. "Please let me do most of the talking," Alessa said, giving Blaise a sidelong glance.

"I'm not going to just run in and should a bunch of random spells at them," Blaise said, rolling his eyes, but he nodded in agreement anyway.

Alessa led the way up the steps to the door and knocked. They waited a few moments, then the door was pulled open by a girl who looked to be about 15 or 16. She looked them over for a moment, taking in Blaise's odd outfit with a raised brow, then she turned to Alessa.

"The open house for adoptions isn't until next weekend," she said, leaning against the door frame.

"We aren't here for that," Alessa said, smiling at her. "I'm here to talk to Mrs. Peters."

"Did you make an appointment?" The girl asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

"No we did not, but it is a matter of some importance," Alessa said, no longer smiling. She straightened her back, standing a bit taller, and gave the girl her best 'I'm a teacher and you are in trouble' look. The girl took a half step back, then sighed.

"I'll go see if she's busy," she said, then stood aside. "Wait here." Alessa and Blaise walked into the entrance hall, closing the door behind them as the girl ran off down the hall and disappeared into a side room. Once again there were no signs of children around the building, causing Alessa to frown. She didn't have much time to think on it though, as the girl came back into the hall, followed by the caretaker, who looked Alessa up and down before a hint of recognition came to her eyes.

"You are that teacher from that school Katherine goes to, no?" She asked.

"I am," Alessa responded, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Has there been a problem with her?" The woman asked, looking around for the girl.

"Not at all, I am here on a different matter entirely," Alessa said, making the woman focus on her.

"Well what is it, I'm a busy woman," she said, raising her face stubbornly.

"This is my cousin, Blaise Zabini. I have reason to believe he might be related to Kathrine and Seth Adams. I have come to request a look at your records of the children, if at all possible," Alessa said sternly. She disliked the woman for some reason, probably the rudeness that seemed to flow off of her in waves.

"We can't give out records unless you want to adopt them," the woman said after a few moments, narrowing her eyes at Alessa's tone.

"Surely there are different rules for family," Alessa said, looking at the woman.

"Well you would have to prove relation," the woman said in a tone plainly saying she didn't think they could do that.

"Fine," Alessa said. "I have our identification cards, and our birth certificates. What else would you need for proof?"

"I have my family records with me," Blaise said, leaning around Alessa. "Complete with pictures and birth certificates." Alessa turned around to glance at him for a moment, but turned back to the woman, who was now openly glaring.

"Fine, come to my office and I will look over your papers," she said, turning to lead them away. As they followed behind her, Blaise made a face at Alessa, mocking the woman. Alessa stifled a laugh, turning it into a cough as the woman glanced back at them to gesture them into her office room.

Alessa pulled the identification cards she had replicated from her coat pocket, making sure to stuff Draco's back in, she had forgotten to return it. Then she pulled the birth certificate papers out of her pocket. The wizarding world didn't use such things, but Hermione had informed her that they might be needed. She was't sure how Blaise knew about them. She just hoped he'd had a good reference to make them. Blaise pulled a large book from a pocket in his jacket that was much to small to have carried it. Alessa glared at him, but he shrugged, nodding to the woman who had turned around to speak to the girl that had let them in. Alessa sighed, then reached over to flip the cover of the book open, quickly closing it again as one of the pictures waved up at her. She glared at Blaise, but the woman was turning around now, so Alessa couldn't do anything. The woman made to grab the book but Alessa shoved her own papers into the woman's hand first, making her scowl, but she brought them up under her nose to look at. Alessa kept her wand below the edge or the desk, out of view, and muttered a few words under her breath while waving her wand toward the book. It glowed for a second, then dimmed. The woman didn't seem to notice, and Alessa let out a relieved sigh as she set down the cards Alessa had handed to her and reached for the book again. She flipped it open, then frowned, and Alessa had a sudden jolt of fear, thinking the charm to still the pictures hadn't worked, but then the woman flipped the page.

"Those are from generations ago, the more recent family is at the back, including my father's sister, whom we believe to be the mother of Katherine and Seth," Blaise said, taking it upon himself to flip to a page near the back of the book which Alessa could see held a picture of her great aunt, her husband, and their two children.

"This is my grandmother, also called Katherine, and her husband William, with her two children, my father Ricardo, and my aunt Edith," Blaise said, pointing at the picture and the corresponding birth certificates that he had added to the page. "My side of the family lost contact with my aunt Edith before I was born, so we were unaware that she had had children, and now Alessa and I are the only remaining family they would have."

"I see," the woman said, frowning at the page. She flipped to the next one where Alessa could see a picture of her own grandparents, parents, and her as a toddler, with corresponding birth certificates. Then the woman closed the book, and stood to go to a metal cabinet, bulling open a sliding drawer with a clatter. She fished through files, drawing out a few pieces of paper as she went, then returned to her desk, laying the papers out before her.

"Ah yes," she said, after a moment of glancing over the papers. "Here we are," she slid the papers across the table to Blaise, who picked them up, looking slightly confused. Alessa leaned over to read them as well. "The police brought them to us about seven years ago, when the boy was just a baby. There was some sort of gas explosion at their house, the parents didn't make it out. The report says that the children were at a daycare when it happened. The only picture of the parents we have is one that the daycare had taken of them to hang on their "parents" wall or whatever. The report does match up with the names you gave us, so I suppose you would have rights over the children, if you wanted them." Blaise looked up in shock.

"You mean like, adopt them?" He asked, letting Alessa pull the papers out of his hands. "I don't think-"

"We are unsure of how we would like to proceed," Alessa said, interrupting him. "We will need some time to think about what we have discovered today, but we will get back to you in a few days, if that's alright."

"Whatever," the woman said, waving a wand at them. Alessa set the papers down on top of the book, then discretely waved her wand again, making the letters on the papers glows, then fade to normal. The woman grabbed the papers a moment later, and Alessa picked up the book and the things she had brought, standing as she did so. Blaise stood too.

"Next time you come by, please make an appointment," the woman said, standing from her desk and gesturing them out of the room.

"Yes, we will be sure to do that," Alessa said, walking down the hall to the door. They said farewell to the rude woman, then left the building in silence, walking down the road a few blocks.

"Alessa," Blaise said after a few moments. "I can't adopt those kids, they would end up staying alone in the manor for most of the time. Between my work and Katie's, we would be too busy, and we haven't even talked about kids yet, that seemed like a distant future thing."

"Stop panicking, I wasn't going to ask you to adopt them. We went to find out if they are related to us, and they are. Don't worry about the rest of it," Alessa said, walking next to him.

"What are you going to do? We can't leave them in an orphanage, especially that one, it gives me the creeps," Blaise said, shivering. Alessa nodded, knowing what he meant.

"I will talk to George. Maybe he would like to have a kid running around in the shop with him for a few years. Once he's off to Hogwarts, it would only be summers and holidays anyway, I think I could probably convince him," Alessa said, beginning to smile. They hadn't talked about adoption, but she figured he might be more open to the idea now that it was unlikely she would ever give him kids. "If he doesn't like that idea, maybe I could convince Mrs. Weasley to take them, I know she's been missing having kids in the house for years." Blaise chuckled at that.

"I don't understand how someone who had seven children could possible want more kids," he said, tucking his hands into his pockets. Alessa remembered she was carrying his book, and handed it back to him, watching it disappear into the magically enlarged pocket.

"How did you know about birth certificates?" Alessa asked, looking around them to make sure none of the muggles were within hearing range.

"Hermione," he said simply, shrugging. "I guess she thought you would need more than just those cards you have. She tracked me down at work and gave me a list of things to put together and I've been fixing it for the last week or so."

"Well, thank you, that woman is just overly difficult for some reason," Alessa said, frowning in thought for a moment, then shrugging it off as they turned into an empty alleyway to apperate.

"I'm heading back home," Blaise said as they came to a stop.

"Okay, I'll see you later. Thanks for coming along," Alessa said, giving him a hug.

"No problem," he said. "Let me know what you decide to do about the kids."

"I will," she said, then pulled back and disapparated. She landed in the empty yard between the house and the shop in Hogsmeade and made her way toward the shop.

George was sitting behind the counter, reading a magazine when Alessa walked in the back door. He was so into whatever he was reading that Alessa was able to sneak up behind him without notice. She carefully poked his side between his ribs where she knew he was extremely ticklish, and he yelped and jumped, nearly falling off his stool. She laughed heartily as he regained his balance, setting the magazine on the counter. He glared at her in fake anger, making her laugh harder.

"You're in a good mood," he said when she finally got ahold of herself. His face softened and a smile grew as he watched her. "I take it the orphanage went well?"

"Very, though Blaise nearly ruined it a few times. He brought a book of family history and didn't charm the pictures to stay still, luckily I noticed that before the woman did," Alessa said, then began to frown. "I don't like that woman who runs the place, she's very rude. It's almost as if she wants to keep all the kids prisoner there or something." She shrugged, focusing on his face again, then she hesitated. "Speaking of the kids there…" She trailed off, making him raise an eyebrow.

"What about them?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. She almost smiled at the habit, which she was sure he had picked up from her.

"Well not all of them, just two of them," she began, then stopped, deciding she may as well put the subject in the open instead of dancing around it. "Have you thought about alternatives, now that I probably can't have kids?"

"Alternatives? You mean adoption?" He asked, frowning in thought. "I haven't thought about it."

"Well," she said, drawing the word out. "If you would ever consider adoption, I happen to know of two kids who currently reside in an orphanage…" She trailed off.

"I thought you were just visiting one kid there," George said, not really paying much attention to her. Then he lifted his head, understanding. "You went to see if the boy was related to you today, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Blaise wanted to know just as much as I did," she said defensively.

"I know, it's fine, but why didn't you tell me about it?" George asked, his eyes halfway between curious and sad.

"I didn't mean to not tell you about it," Alessa said, frowning as she thought over the last few weeks. She had thought for sure she had mentioned her thoughts about the boy to George, but now she couldn't remember. "I guess I forgot to tell you. It's been hectic the last few weeks."

"So the boy is related to you after all?" George asked, his face clearing again. Alessa nodded.

"He and his sister would be Blaise's direct cousins, so my second cousins or whatever. I copied the papers she had when she wasn't looking," Alessa said, pulling the pages out of her coat pockets.

"So what now? You want to adopt them?" George asked, frowning again.

"I didn't go there with the intention, but the matron woman brought it up, and Blaise already said he can't since between work and stuff, he's never home, but both of us agreed that we don't want them to have to stay in that place," Alessa said, paying idly with the edge of the paper she had unfolded on the counter in front of her. "I told Blaise I would ask you what you thought, and if… things didn't work out with it I'd find someone else I trusted who would be willing to look after them. I was thinking about your mother, I know she likes kids and she's home most of the time."

"It's just a lot to take in. I mean, kids are a huge responsibility and this is really sudden. I mean, before last month, kids just seemed like some distant thing, and I didn't think about it," George said, running a hand through his hair. "I don't think we could afford to adopt two kids right now, I spent most of my savings getting this shop running." Alessa's mouth had fallen open, and she stared at him.

"Um," she started, then cleared her throat.

"What is it?" George asked, watching her face.

"Well, it's just, I guess I kinda never said anything about it, I guess I forgot you didn't know…" She said, looking awkwardly at the floor.

"What?" He asked, throughly confused by now.

"Well, I guess I'm sort of really well off in that department. Both of my parents came from rich families and as the last descendant of either of those families, I inherited quite a bit from them. And I have a substantial amount of savings that I've collected over the last few years," Alessa said, folding and refolding the corners of the parchment in front of her. "I guess I never told you because it was never brought up, another thing I didn't mean to not tell you."

"Any more things you haven't meant to not tell me?" George asked, letting out an odd laugh. She looked up.

"I don't think so, it's just not something I think about often," Alessa said, shrugging. "I've never had to think about money related things much, so I guess I kind of forgot that other people do."

"Well," George said, not really having much to say.

"Sorry, I guess that makes me sound like one of those spoiled pureblood brats," Alessa said, looking at the floor now.

"A little," George said, laughing for real this time. "Let me guess, you have a mansion hidden away in the country and you secretly have vacation homes all over the world."

"No," she said, chuckling now too. "Well, I guess I technically still own my parents house, but I haven't been there since before I left school. It's not as big as Zabini Manor, but it's actually quite large. Oh, and they did actually own a vacation home in France, I forgot about that, I've never been to it."

"Are you serious," George said, laughing slightly now. Alessa looked up at him at his tone.

"Um, yeah? Sorry," she said, watching his face fall with shock.

"Having money is hardly something to apologize for," he said, a smile growing on his face. "I guess then, if you want to, the only problem I have with adopting kids is that I would have to hire someone else to take care of the shop."

"Really? You want to adopt them?" Alessa said, slowly grinning.

"I can see how much you want to," George said, taking her hands. "I can't say no to you." Alessa's face fell for a moment.

"I don't want you to agree to something just because I want it," she said, trying to tug her hands away now. He tightened his grip.

"I wouldn't have agreed if I really didn't want to. I like kids, and I have always wanted them, you know that. A few years earlier than expected doesn't make me not want them," he said seriously. Then his face became worried. "Do you think they will like me?" Alessa smiled and then laughed at his expression.

"Everyone likes you. And it's just an idea right now. I don't know what all will be required to adopt them, I'll have to talk to Hermione. But don't worry, from what I have seen, the boy seems to be quiet and calm. You can meet him sometime. And his sister is quite smart, at least in my classes. I'll bring her down to meet you next Hogsmeade weekend, if I can. She's in second year so I don't know if I'll be allowed." Then her face fell. "I hope they will want to live with us. I mean, she told me her brother hates the orphanage, but it must be really odd for them to think about leaving it since they have been there as long as they remember."

"Stop worrying," George said, using his fingers to sooth the worry lines from her forehead. "It'll turn out fine."

They stood in silence for a few moments, both thinking.

"So," George said, making her look back at him. "Vacation house in France? I hear that France is the land of love, we should check that out." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, making Alessa chuckle and hit his arm. She folded up the papers she had copied from the orphanage and stuck them back in her pocket, still smiling. Then she frowned.

"Do you think I should tell Katherine about all this?" Alessa asked, gesturing to her pocket.

"Katherine is the girl?" George asked, making Alessa pull the papers back out.

"Sorry," She said, unfolding them. "I meant to show you the pictures. These were their parents, that is Blaise's aunt and her husband. That's Katherine, I think it's somewhat recent, maybe from last year?" She said, handing him the pictures. "This is Seth, he's a bit older than this now," she handed him the last picture.

"They do sort of look like Blaise. Same hair," George said, looking at the pictures. She smiled. "I think you probably should tell her. Kids have a habit of finding things out anyway, and then they gat mad at you for not telling them sooner."

"Alright," Alessa nodded, knowing that he was right. "Would you like to be there?"

"That's alright," George said, shaking his head. "I think finding out you have family when you thought they were all dead is overwhelming enough. I would like to be there when you tell her about the adoption idea though."

"Of course," Alessa said, then sighed and wrapped her arms around George, pulling herself into his chest.

"What is it," George asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm just happy. The last two months have been difficult. I'm glad something good is happening," she said into his shirt, nestling her face into his shoulder.

"I am too," George said, running a hand down her back.

The bell rang as a customer entered the shop, and Alessa and George pulled apart.

"I should get up to the castle," Alessa said, tucking the photos and papers away. "Dinner ends soon and if I hurry I can catch Katherine before it's done."

"Good luck," George said, then kissed her cheek in farewell and she walked through the yard back into their house to floo to the castle.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Seth

"Ms. Adams?" Alessa asked, getting the attention of the small girl as she sat at the Gryffindor table talking to her friends. She looked up, a confused expression on her face.

"Yes professor?" Katherine said, ignoring her friends giggling.

"Please come see me in my office after your meal," Alessa said, smiling a little to let her know she wasn't in trouble, but as Alessa turned to head back up to the front table, she heard Katherine's friends teasing her anyway.

Alessa ate hardly anything through dinner, she was too excited. Instead she pretended to listen intently to Neville explaining the differences between Dittany harvested under a full moon and Dittany harvested under a new moon. Alessa nodded along in all the right places, then excused herself a few seconds after he made his final point, which Alessa could no longer remember.

She waited only five minutes in her office before Katherine knocked on the door. Alessa gestured her to sit in the chair, then sat herself and pulled the papers she had taken from the orphanage.

"Alright, Ms. Adams, I made a trip to the Adams Children's Home this morning, and I discovered something that might interest you. Here, read over these," Alessa said, sliding the paper that had Katherine and Seth's birth information on it. Katherine read over it quickly, then looked up on confusion. "Here is a picture that came with it," Alessa continued, sliding the picture of her parents over to her.

"Are these… my parents?" Kathrine asked, staring intently at the picture.

"Yes. I don't know what your father's name was, but your mother's name was Edith. Her maiden name was Zabini," Alessa said, smiling softly as Katherine's eyes began to water as she continued to stare at the picture. Finally she slid it back across the cask, looking nearly heartbroken at letting it go.

"So I could have a real family?" Kathrine asked, looking up.

"I want you to keep that picture," Alessa began, nodding at the photograph. Katherine snatched it up quickly, holding it protectively against her chest. "There is only one other person left with the Zabini name, his name is Blaise, he is almost my age. I can arrange for you to meet him if you would like, he is very friendly."

"I'd like to," Katherine said softly, pulling the picture back to look at it again. "Do you know what happened to the rest of the Zabini's?"

"I do," Alessa said, smiling sadly. "Blaise's grandmother, who also was your grandmother, passed away last year, as did Blaise's mother. His father, your uncle, died many years ago. Your grandmother's sister died about six years ago. Her daughter Isabelle married a man named Richard Sarati. Both of them passed away about six years ago. Their daughter is still living," Alessa said, her eyes glittering as Katherine looked up sharply.

"Then… you are my cousin?" Katherine asked. Alessa couldn't read her face, but she could feel the hope and joy rolling off of her.

"Well, second cousin, but yes, I am," Alessa said, smiling now as Katherine began to grin.

"Does Seth know?" She asked, her face dropping again.

"Not yet," Alessa said, shaking her head. "Suddenly finding out that some people you have never met are related to you can be a lot to take in. I thought it might go over better if you had some time to get used to the idea first, and then we could both go and tell Seth together."

"Okay!" Katherine said, jumping up excitedly. "When can we go?"

"I will talk to the headmistress. Maybe next weekend," Alessa said, still smiling. Then Kathrine stopped mid-jump and fell back into her chair, her mouth forming another frown.

"Wait…" she said, and Alessa watched her, waiting for her thoughts. "How old is… um… the other guy?"

"Blaise?" Alessa asked, tilting her head slightly. "He is 21. Why?"

"Well, if he's only in his twenties, he's not going to want to adopt us, will he? The other kids in the orphanage always say that no one adopts kids until they are forty something and rich and bored," Katherine said, her face falling completely.

"Well, no, Blaise cannot adopt you," Alessa said. Katherine looked down into her lap.

"Oh," she said sadly. Alessa watched her for a few moments, then stood.

"Wait here, I will be right back," Alessa said, then turned and opened the door to her chambers, closing the door behind her. She grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. Crouching down on her hands and knees to stick her head into the fire and called "Hogsmeade joke shop" in a clear voice. She looked out into the empty staff room in the shop, waiting for a few moments to see if she could hear a customer.

"George?" She called, not hearing anyone at the counter. She waited a moment, then called him again, louder. Her walked in seconds later, glancing around with his brows drawn, then spotted her head floating in the flames.

"Did something happen?" He asked, crouching down in front of her.

"No, I just think now is a good time to tell Katherine about our idea. She's waiting in my office, can you close up a bit early?" Alessa asked, smiling up at him.

"Sure, there's just one guy still shopping. I'll be up in a bit. If you remember to lower your wards this time," George said, grinning. She chuckled, then pulled her head back and stood, once again in her own chambers. She waved her wand over the fireplace, allowing him to come through, then walked back to her office to wait, leaving the door cracked open so she could hear the fireplace. Katherine was still sitting in the chair, looking down at the photograph of her parents which she held in her lap.

"Have you ever been in Hogsmeade?" Alessa asked as she sat again.

"Only for the train, and that doesn't really count," Katherine said, shaking her head.

"I think you would like it, there's lots of shops and interesting things there," Alessa said, making inane conversation as they waited for George.

"Some of the older kids talk about it all the time," Katherine said, finally looking up from her picture. "I'd like to go. I want to see the shrieking shack. Or maybe the post office, I heard there are hundreds of owls there."

"There are. Maybe next weekend after we go see your brother, we can stop in Hogsmeade on the way back," Alessa said, smiling as Katherine's face lit up.

"Really?" She asked, bouncing a little in her seat. "That would be so cool! I'd be the only second year who's been." Alessa smiled, then turned as she heard George come through the floo.

"I have someone I'd like you to meet," Alessa said, standing to pull the door open as George walked through, hands in his pockets.

"Hi, I'm George," he said, holding his hand out to Katherine as he walked around the desk to sit in the empty chair beside her. "You must be Katherine, I've heard a lot about you." Katherine nodded, shook his hand, then looked down at her lap again.

"George is my fiancé," Alessa said, sitting down again. George waggled his eyebrows at her, grinning, and she glared at him and shook her head. "My cousin Blaise said he wouldn't be able to adopt you because he works as an Auror, and his fiance is working all day too, so no one would be home to look after you both. George and I have decided that we would like to adopt you instead," Alessa said, watching as Katherine's head flew up to gape at her.

"You… want to adopt me?" Katherine asked, still gaping at them. "But you're my professor." Alessa frowned for a moment.

"We won't adopt you if you don't want us to. We just wanted to give you the option," Alessa said, glancing at George who nodded in encouragement.

"Of course I want you to," Katherine said, making Alessa look back at her in confusion. "I don't want Seth to have to live in an orphanage his whole life. And you are everyone's favorite teacher," Katherine said, rolling her eyes at Alessa's look.

"So, you do want us to adopt you?" Alessa said, a smile growing on her lips.

"Yes," Katherine said, nodding. George chuckled at Alessa, who gave him another look before standing.

"I don't know how the muggle adoption thing works, so it may take a long time. I have a friend who's going to help us out with that. You'd better get going though, it's almost curfew," Alessa said to Katherine who stood and walked to the door, then she turned around and marched back to Alessa, and threw her arms around Alessa's waist for a fraction of a second, hugging her, then she turned and disappeared through the door.

"Well, that went well," George said, standing and stretching his arms over his head in a lazy manor.

"Well you didn't have to do anything except make suggestive gestures over her head," Alessa said, turning back to glare at George again. He shrugged, not looking sorry.

"You are just fun to mess with Alessa, you get so angry about it," he said, glancing at her to make sure she wasn't actually angry. She continued to glare until he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her against him. She sighed, then hugged him back. He pulled back and smirked at her.

"What?" She asked, frowning.

"When you are mad all I have to do is hug you and I'm automatically forgiven. You can't resist my charm," he said, grinning. She scowled at him, but didn't deny anything. In all honesty, she did really enjoy his hugs. Besides, she wasn't actually angry in the first place. She stuck her tongue out, then turned to her desk to gather up the assignments she had been working on the day before. Once she had them in a neat stack, she picked them up and walked into her chambers, George following behind. She waved her wand, putting the wards back up, then floo'd back to their house without waiting for George. He followed a few moments later and hugged her from behind, making her drop her papers on an arm chair near by in surprise.

"Don't be mad," he said into her hair.

"I'm not mad," she said, turning around in his grasp to look up at him. "I'm not even annoyed. It was kind of funny."

"I knew there was some reason I kept you around," he said, pulling back to laugh at her as she pulled another face.

* * *

"Alessa," a voice called, making her turn just as she was about to enter the great hall for lunch a few days later.

"Hello Neville," she said, waiting for him to catch up before walking into the hall. They made their way through the loud crowd of students to the nearly empty head table, and took their seats before speaking again. "How are you Neville? Are all of your classes going well?"

"Yes actually, no mishaps yet, even the first years are doing alright," he said, tapping his fork against the table lightly. Alessa could tell he was nervous about something, but she decided not to question him about it, figuring he would get around to telling her if he wanted to. "What about yours?"

"Oh, they are all great now that I've had a couple months to get used to the routine," Alessa said, smiling. She looked out over the students, many of them had odd colored hair due to the discovery of George's products. After the older students had gone to Hogsmeade last weekend, many others had fallen prey to the hair and skin color changing potions. Every meal in the last four days had been punctuated with a new person exploding into color and then yelling at whoever they suspected. None of the teachers had been pranked yet, though Alessa had overheard a few whispered plans. She had also confiscated a few products from students who had been caught attempting to do something or other, but overall most of the teachers were being pretty lenient this week, since Halloween was the next monday.

Neville had nodded, then went about eating his lunch. It wasn't until Alessa had finished her food and made to stand that he spoke again.

"Alessa, do you have a moment?" Neville asked, glancing up at her nervously.

"Sure Neville. What's up?" She said, sitting back in her chair. Neville glanced around them quickly, but the head table had remained nearly empty while they ate and no one else was within hearing range.

"I'm not sure if you know anything about my parents?" He said, phrasing it more into a question.

"No, I don't," Alessa said. She hadn't even known who Neville was when she had been in school, and they weren't exactly close friends now, so she had no reason to know anything about him.

"Well, back during the first wizarding war, they were, um, attacked, and put into St. Mungos. They aren't really all here anymore," he said, looking at his plate. Alessa continued to look out over the students as he spoke. "Well, I saw Ginny last week, and we got to talking, and she told me you have been studying ways to heal the brain of coma patients. I was hoping that, maybe if you had time, you could, maybe, try healing my parents?"

"Neville," Alessa began slowly, trying to word what she needed to explain. "I don't, well, it's all just theory at this point, I've never had any real training, and I've never tried healing someone from a coma, I'm not really sure if it would even work." She watched his face fall. "I mean, I can try, but I don't want to promise anything if I don't know what will happen."

"It's okay. The healers at St. Mungo's have tried everything they knew. They aren't in a coma, they are able to walk around, and sort of talk, but they don't really know what's going on around them, and they don't recognize anyone," Neville said, slightly turned toward her in his seat but still looking at his plate.

"I will try Neville. As soon as I have time. I've been extremely busy the past few weeks, and I expect to be busy for the next few weeks as well," Alessa said, frowning as she tried to figure out the next time she would have free time. "I will be busy this weekend, and if this weekend goes how I expect, probably next weekend as well."

"It's okay, it's not a hurry. They have been in the same state for years now," Neville said, making to stand.

"Neville," Alessa said, making him look at her at last. "I don't want you to get your hopes up. Chances are that I won't be able to do anything."

"That's okay," he said, nodding. "I just feel like I need to try everything."

I understand," she said, her face softening slightly. She nodded farewell to him as he walked away from the table. The hall had mostly cleared out, so Alessa hurried to her classroom to prepare for the next class.

* * *

"Ms. Adams," Alessa said, spotting Katherine in the hallway Friday evening, walking with some of her friends. She turned, spotting Alessa.

"Yes Professor?" She asked, taking a few steps away from her friends.

"Please meet me in my office tomorrow morning after breakfast," Alessa said. She smiled at Katherine and the other girls, then turned to continue walking down the hall.

The next morning came quickly, Alessa skipped breakfast in the Great Hall, settling for a cup of coffee a house elf had brought up for her. She sat at her desk reading over the latest assignments from her students, sipping the coffee, and trying not to think about the things she had planned for the weekend. She wasn't worried about today at all. Blaise and agreed to come to Hogsmeade to meet her and Katherine, and then they would all go to the orphanage to talk to Seth. Alessa had called ahead this time, letting the matron woman know they would be there. Afterwords, Alessa planned on taking Katherine to the shop for a little bit, so she could get to know George, then they would look at a few other shops in Hogsmeade before returning to the school.

It was Sunday that Alessa was trying not to think about. She had arranged to meet with Hermione to talk about how the muggles went about adopting orphans, and also to talk about the muggle hormone treatments Alessa had been studying. She still hadn't told George about those, and she didn't think she was going to until after she had them, if she decided to have them at all. She didn't want to get his hopes up in case they didn't work, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to take the treatments, now that they were planning on adopting two children. She didn't even know if George wanted more than two kids.

Alessa had been very good at handling stress for most of her life, but ever since the semester had started, it seemed like one problem on top of another had been piled into her lap, and it was wearing her down. She still wasn't able to sleep well at night without the dreamless sleep potions, and it felt like she had barely seen George in the last two months.

Alessa sighed and set down her quill, then rubbed her temples to ease the headache that was brewing. A knock sounded from the open office door, making her look up. She pasted a smile on her face, seeing Katherine standing nervously in the doorway. She had worn muggle clothes, as many of the kids did on weekends, and Alessa was glad she had, since they would be going to the orphanage.

"Hello Katherine, are you ready to go?" Alessa said, standing from her desk. Kathrine nodded, following Alessa through the office to the nearly empty chambers behind the door.

"Where are we going? Hogsmeade?" Katherine asked, scooping up a handful of Floo powder.

"At first, yes, we will be meeting Blaise there. Then I thought we could go speak to your brother. Then afterwords we can stop by a few shops in town, as long as you don't tell the headmistress. I didn't ask permission for a shopping trip, but I think we can stretch the rules a little," Alessa said, smirking, which made Kathrine smile a bit.

They floo'd to the empty employee room of the shop and Alessa looked around the shelves for a few minutes, frowning when George wasn't there, but then she realized that is was still a half hour until the shop opened.

"We will wait here for Blaise. He should be by soon. You can look around if you want to," Alessa said, shrugging off the coat she had worn. She hadn't realized they were leaving so early, usually breakfast wasn't over till after ten. Katherine took off her coat as well, draping it over Alessa's, then she looked around the shelves near the desk. Alessa flipped the sign to open and pulled the shades up, then went through the normal opening procedure. By the time George wandered in the back door, she was sitting behind the cash register, flipping through a quidditch magazine uninterestedly. Katherine had disappeared in the back shelves somewhere, still looking at the joke items.

"Alessa!" George said happily, spotting her reading. She looked up from the article about the England National Team, and smiled as he approached. She stood to give him a hug, but pulled away when he leaned in for a kiss. He crooked his head, and she nodded to the shelves where the top of Katherine's head was just barely visible. George smiled and went over to talk to her for a few minutes, Alessa returned to the article which was mostly about the first game of the season, which England had won by a landslide, partly due to their new chaser, Ginny Potter. Alessa smiled as she read, glad to see that the fans seemed to approve of her friend. Alessa looked up as the bell over the door tinkled, and saw Blaise and, to her surprise, Katie.

"Hey," Alessa smiled, then stood to walk around the counter. "Hi Katie, no work today?"

"Actually, I am working today. George asked me to come watch the shop this morning so he could go with you guys to meet, um…" She trailed off, looking up at Blaise in question.

"Seth," he responded. Katie nodded.

"And anyway, I wanted to talk to you about wedding plans later, if you have time," Katie said, smiling at Blaise as she spoke.

"Sure," Alessa said, her heart sinking. She had actually completely forgot that she was supposed to be making wedding plans, and she hadn't even thought about the wedding since maybe the first week of term. Her shoulders sagged momentarily, then she turned to see where George and Katherine had gotten to. Spotting them a few shelves away, Alessa went to see what they were up to.

"So you just slip it into someones drink and then bam! Crazy hair colors! It's really easy, and it only lasts for a few hours," George said, showing Katherine a bright purple vial.

"You are not giving her prank ideas," Alessa said, bringing a hand up to smack her forehead. "As if there aren't enough kids with freaky hair walking around. Stop corrupting children."

"I'm not corrupting anyone!" George cried as he straightened up, but Alessa saw him wink at Katherine, and saw Katherine trying to suppress a giggle. She rolled her eyes, then turned back to Blaise and Katie who had followed her over.

"Katherine, this is Blaise Zabini, and his fiancé Katie Bell. Guys, this is Katherine," Alessa said. "Katherine's mother was Blaise's dad's sister," she explained to Katie who nodded.

"It's nice to meet you. I was getting sick of Alessa being my only relative. You seem much cooler than her," Blaise said, earning another giggle from Katherine and a smack on the arm each from Katie and Alessa. Alessa narrowed her eyes at Blaise, and Katherine must have thought she was genuinely upset because she frowned and spoke up.

"No, Ms. Sarati is everyone's favorite teacher. She is cool," Katherine said, making Blaise burst into laughter and Alessa smile.

"Thanks Katherine, but Blaise just likes to think he's funny sometimes," Alessa said, rolling her eyes at Blaise who was now doubled over in laughter. "And you can call me Alessa when we aren't in school, if you want to." Katherine smiled and nodded, then looked back at Blaise who had straightened.

"You laugh like a dying elephant," George said, slapping Blaise on the back, then he went over to the register to make sure everything was set up.

"I do not," Blaise said, frowning, making Katherine giggle again. "What does a dying elephant even sound like? And how would you know?" Blaise said, turning back to the counter, Katie stifling a laugh as she followed.

"Shut up Blaise," Alessa said, coming up behind them. "Lets get going, if we go now we can probably be back for lunch."

"Oh good, I'm hungry," Blaise said, forgetting the previous conversation.

"I think you are alway hungry," Alessa said, smiling. She put on her coat then led Kathrine into the back yard where they could apperate, and waited a few seconds for George and Blaise to join them.

Once gathered, Alessa apperated with Katherine, and Blaise with George, since George didn't know where he was going. Katherine stumbled as they landed, nearly knocking Alessa over as well before they both got their balance.

"I don't think I like apparating," Katherine said, closing her eyes tightly.

"I know," Alessa said, waiting for the others to arrive. "You get used to it. And it's much faster than walking or trains." Katherine nodded, eyes still closed.

By the time the other two had arrives, Katherine had opened her eyes again.

Alessa fell into step behind Blaise and Katherine, who had started up a conversation about quidditch teams. George took Alessa's hand, making her glance up at him with a smile. They fell behind a little more so they could talk without being overheard.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" George asked, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.

"I'm meeting Hermione for lunch to talk about the muggle rules for adopting a child," Alessa said, pulling up her mental schedule. "I'm patrolling the halls after curfew until midnight. If I have time tonight I will finish grading last weeks assignments, if not, I will have to do that tomorrow sometime." She hummed, trying to remember if there was anything else. "Neville asked if I would visit his parents at St. Mungos sometime, to see if there is any chance of repairing whatever damage they have in their minds. I told him I would do that when I had some time." Then she looked up at him, noticing his frown. "Why?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "It just seems like a long time since we have had any time together. I know you have to be at the castle till after dinner, but… i dunno. Nevermind." He was still frowning a bit, but he squeezed her hand then schooled his face back into a smile.

"I know," Alessa said, looking down sadly. "I'm sorry. I've just been really busy with everything."

"It's alright. If you have time tomorrow, would you like to have dinner with me?" George asked, tugging her closer to him as they walked. Alessa smiled up at him.

"I'd love to," she said, then frowned. "What about the shop though? By the time you close I have to be up at the castle for patrols."

"I can close a bit early, its alright," George said, smiling. She pulled him to a stop for a moment, standing on her toes to press a short kiss to his lips, then she turned and pulled him along to catch up to the other two who were now almost to the orphanage.

"Thanks for joining us. I thought you got lost," Blaise said sarcastically as they approached the steps of the building.

"Shut up Blaise," Alessa said, pushing to the front of the group to ring the bell. A few moments later, the rude woman opened the door, looked them over, then sighed.

"Hello. I called you earlier this week in regards to talking to Seth about what we discovered last weekend," Alessa said, keeping a polite smile on her face.

"He's out back with the other kids," the woman said, nodding to the right side of the building where a fence met up with the building.

"Thank you," Alessa said, nodding to the woman who sniffed, then turned away, letting the door close again.

"Come on, I'll show you the way," Katherine said, and surprised Alessa by taking her hand to lead her around the building and through a gate in the fence. They came to a modestly sized playground where a couple dozen kids played and ran around. Katherine immediately spotted her brother, and waded through the running children to retrieve him, leading him back over to the adults, who a few of the kids had stopped to watch.

"Hello Seth," Alessa said as they came within hearing range. "Would you like to take a walk with us to a quieter part of the playground?" Katherine nodded at her brother who had turned to look at her, then the five of them set off around the perimeter of the fence to a pair of benches Alessa had seen earlier. Alessa and Katherine sat on one, leaving room for Seth in between them, while Blaise and George sat on the other bench.

"Seth, Alessa is our cousin. And so is that guy," Katherine said, pointing at Blaise. "He's called Blaise."

"Really?" Seth said, grinning up at Alessa. "So you're our family now?" Alessa nodded.

"And that is my fiancé George. He's family too," Alessa said, pointing. "We came to ask you if you would like to come live with us later."

"Live with you at the school?" Seth said, bouncing excitedly in his seat now.

"Not quite. We live in a town near the school," Alessa said.

"They own a shop, and it's filled with toys," Katherine said, grinning.

"Magic toys?" Seth asked, looking at his sister with wide eyes.

"Yep," she said, grinning. Alessa chose not to mention that most of the toys were not for playing with, but rather for pranks.

"So you are my new mom and dad then?" Seth asked, looking back to Alessa, who smiled softly at the name.

"Not yet, there's lots of paperwork to fill out first, so it might be a few weeks," Alessa said, grinning.

"That's okay, we have a field trip next week," he said simply, making Alessa laugh. "Do you want to play a game with me?" Seth asked, looking back at George and Blaise, who both nodded.

"What game do you want to play?" George asked, standing. Seth hopped off the bench, ran up to George, and hit his arm, yelling 'tag' loudly, then he ran off toward the playground, giggling.

"What?" George asked confused.

"Haven't you ever played tag before?" Katherine asked, her face incredulous. George shook his head, as did Blaise and Alessa. "You have to chase him, and when you get close enough, you touch him, and then he is it. The person who's it has to try to tag someone else," she explained.

"So I can tag anyone, since I'm it?" George said, a smile growing on his face.

"Anyone except the person who just tagged you," Katherine said, nodding. George grinned evilly, looking at Alessa, who took a step back, just dodging his swinging arm. He hit Blaise instead and yelled 'tag' then the group broke apart laughing, running from Blaise who had begun chasing Katherine.

Within minutes the entire playground had joined into the game, large groups of people trying to get away from whoever had been tagged. After nearly an hour, they heard a whistle blow from the back porch and all the kids began heading back to the building, most laughing and out of breath from the game.

Alessa, George, Blaise, and Katherine bid farewell to Seth, Alessa promising to come see him again soon, then the group headed back up the street to the alleyway they used to apparate from. George draped his arm over Alessa's shoulders as they walked, still breathing hard.

"You're out of shape," Alessa said, laughing as he tried to calm his breathing.

"I am not," he said indignantly. "You were running from kids, I was running from that beast every time he got tagged," George said, waving his hand at Blaise who snickered.

"I had to pay you back for getting me first," Blaise said, laughing.

"Where did you learn to run so fast?" George said, still breathing a bit heavier than normal.

"I like to go running in the morning before work. Auror training is strict, we have to be able to run a lot without getting tired," Blaise said, shrugging. He had hardly even broken a sweat. George sputtered in response, making everyone laugh again, then they took turns going back to the shop's yard.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Adoption

"What are you up to this weekend?" George asked Alessa as they sat on their couch. They were supposed to be watching a movie, but Alessa had dragged out that weeks assignments to look over and George had an array of small containers set on the table in front of him that he had been fiddling with for the last half hour. Alessa had finally set aside the last of her work with a sigh, and stretched her arms in front of her.

"Well tomorrow after classes we have a staff meeting, but it shouldn't take too long. On Saturday I was thinking about stopping by Mungo's and seeing Neville's parents, and I have after curfew patrol that night too," Alessa said, trying to remember if she had planned anything else. "I don't think I'm doing anything on Sunday. Why?"

"Ginny wrote. She wants us to come to lunch at her place this weekend. I can tell her we are free on Sunday. I'll just close the shop for a few hours," George said, waving his hand at the letter sitting on the table. Alessa picked it up and glanced over it, a smile growing on her face.

"James liked the birthday gift we sent him," Alessa commented.

"Thats because I am great at thinking of gifts," George said, grinning. Alessa chuckled. She was okay at finding fitting gifts for adults, but when it came to young children she had no idea, so she had let George do the choosing this time. She had been skeptical at first, wondering if it was safe to give a one year old a functioning toy broom, but George had insisted it would be okay.

"You keep telling yourself that," Alessa said, grinning at the indignant look on his face as she sat to respond to Ginny's letter. She finished the note within minutes and sent it off with her owl, then went back to the couch, sitting beside George. She didn't lean into him as he was still working through something that was stored in the multiple small containers.

"How's the adoption process going?" He asked a moment later, scribbling out something on one of the boxes labels and rewriting it.

"Slowly," Alessa said. "I wrote to Hermione on Monday and she owl'd back yesterday saying she would work on it, though I'm not sure exactly what that means. I feel a little bad that she's doing all the work for this herself," she continued, thinking about the information on muggle doctors and hormone treatments that Hermione had also sent her yesterday.

"I think she just likes researching," George said, capping off the containers and leaning back against the couch. Alessa leaned into him then, curling her feet under her and draping an arm across his stomach. His arm went around her shoulder out of habit and she turned her face into his chest. He smoothed down her hair which had started to escape from its braid after the long day of classes. Both of them sighed as they relaxed. The movie had long since ended and the television screen was black, but neither of them got up to change it.

"It's been a while since we've had down time," Alessa said, her eyes closed as she relaxed against him, listening to his heart beat under her ear.

"Two months to be exact," George said, agreeing. His head fell back against the edge of the couch as he slouched down a bit more to be comfortable. Alessa kissed his neck, now level with her face, and smiled as he shivered.

"I didn't expect teaching to take up so much more time than the actual class time," she said, pressing her face against his shoulder. "It's taken a while to get used to."

"Have you been sleeping better at least?" George asked, referring to her use of dreamless sleep potion.

"A little," she said with a sigh. "Most nights it's fine, but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night from something, loud sounds or weird dreams mostly. Then I take the potion to get back to sleep."

"I thought I heard you get up last night," he commented, and she could hear the frown in his voice. "Weird dreams?"

"I don't remember them after I wake up," she said, shrugging as much as she could under his arm. "But I always wake up feeling uneasy and jittery."

"Maybe you should talk to Madame Pomfrey," George said. "She would probably be able to tell you whats causing the dreams."

"I'll go see her tomorrow over lunch if you think it'll help," Alessa said. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to continually rely on the potion to sleep. "Maybe after the adoption is done I'll be less stressed."

"If the adoption is stressing you out maybe it's not a good idea," George said after a minute of silence. She sat up at that, opening her eyes to look at him searchingly.

"I thought you liked the idea," she said, eyebrows drawn together in worry. He smiled at her and used the hand that had been around her shoulders to smooth out the wrinkles in her forehead.

"I like the idea," he said. "I just don't like seeing you stressed out all the time like this."

"It's not the prospect of having kids that stresses me out, it's the getting them here part," she said, snuggling back into him. "It just seems like the muggle way of adopting is so strenuous and impractical."

"I agree," George said. "We could just sneak in and obliviate all the muggles and steal Seth away. No paperwork needed."

"I don't think the ministry would like that idea," Alessa said, chuckling. "I'd like to avoid any more interactions with the ministry if I can."

"We will have to go there when we adopt them though," George said, frowning again. "We will have to be registered as their legal guardians. Muggle paperwork will probably be good enough for them, but we will also have to present our wands and give a magical signature and form a record of them."

"Have you been researching behind my back," Alessa asked, tilting her head up to look at him with curiosity.

"Maybe a little," he said, smiling.

"Are you sure you weren't in Ravenclaw?" She asked jokingly.

"The hat considered it," he said, shrugging. She sat up and looked at him in disbelief until he opened his eyes to look at her.

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Yep," he said, grinning now. "I said that Ravenclaw was too stuffy for me so I went to Gryffindor instead, though if I knew they had such beautiful girls in Ravenclaw I may have reconsidered." He gave her a wink with that and she blushed, making him laugh. He patted her cheek and she stuck her tongue out at him, then got to her feet. "I was just kidding, come back and sit."

"I'm going to bed," she said walking toward the stairs. "You can come along if you wish," she said, looking back at him over her shoulder as her hands busily undid her hair from its braid. She grinned as he jumped up from the couch to follow.

* * *

The next day's morning lessons went by quickly. It was Friday, which were her 'gossip' session days with the younger students, something that she always looked forward to. The students had all grown quite comfortable with her over the last two months and they now enjoyed telling her about their weeks or new things that had happened with their family or friends, and they were no longer shy about asking her questions, having seen that she would answer anything they asked, no matter how dumb they thought the question to be. Today's conversation circled around the weeks lessons for the most part. The first years had just learned hovering charms, and the second years had just started learning about some of the more dangerous plants in Herbology. They chattered about how one of the plants in class would try to strangle you if you went to close to it, and another one lived by eating real bugs, snapping it's leaves closed on them when they got near.

The third years spent most of the hour complaining about their Potions class. Draco had set them all to brewing some really difficult potion that was easy to ruin if they lost concentration, which they often did because Draco had a tendency to unnerve them.

"Okay," Alessa said, holding her hands up to stop the flow of chatter from her third year group. They were all sitting close together in the middle of her classroom, most of them reclined back on bean bag chairs, and the rest laying on their stomachs on the thick padded mats the older students used for meditation. "Let's go over this step by step. Why is Professor Malfoy so frightening to you all?" They were all silent for a moment, looking at each other until one of them raised their hand. "Go ahead, Samantha."

"I think it's the way he talks," she said hesitantly, as though trying to word her thoughts correctly. "He always sounds angry."

"Yeah," one of the other girls piped up. "And he yells when you get something wrong."

"And sometimes he just watches you, as though he's expecting you to mess up," another girl said, others nodding along now. "It makes me nervous."

"Okay," Alessa said, smiling at them. "Let's look at all those things from a different perspective. What do any of you know about Professor Malfoy?"

"He doesn't like mint," one of the girls said, grinning. "I was chewing mint gum and he yelled at me, saying the scent was unnecessarily strong."

"He doesn't talk to any of the other Professors," Samantha added.

"My mum said he was a death eater," another girl said, and the group broke out into whispers.

"Okay," Alessa said, nodding. "Consider this then," she said, thinking over everything they had said. "Professor Malfoy teaches potion, which can be a very dangerous subject if it isn't handled correctly. My parents were killed by a potions accident." The group was listening intently now, eyes wide. "With that in mind, can you think of any other reasons he would watch you carefully and become angry when a mistake is made?"

"He doesn't want us to get hurt," one of the girls said slowly, thinking it out.

"He watches us to make sure we don't make any dangerous mistakes," someone else added.

"Right," Alessa said, nodding. "And isn't it possible that he got angry at you for chewing mint gum, Sarah, because it might have caused a bad reaction were it to fall into your potion?" Sarah nodded, her eyes downcast.

"But was he really a death eater?" The girl who had spoken up before asked.

"How old were you all when the war started?" Alessa asked, looking around at them. "Eight or nine, right? And if a very powerful wizard came to you and told you that if you didn't do what he said he would hurt or kill your parents, would you do what he said?" She looked around at them as many of them nodded somberly. "Sometimes good people do bad things to protect the people they love," she said. "I don't know if Professor Malfoy was a death eater, but since he was not arrested after the war, I would say it's safe to assume that he is a good person. If you knew someone that everyone said was bad, what would you do? Amy?"

"I would avoid them," the girl said, frowning. "Is that why Professor Malfoy doesn't talk to people? They are scared of him?"

"Maybe," Alessa said. "Maybe he just doesn't like talking to people very often. Many people don't like to be in crowds or around people they don't know. Now, what is the moral of this lesson?" She nodded to the first girl to raise her hand.

"That sometimes when people seem mean they are actually just trying to help?" She said, phrasing the answer into a question.

"Very good. Anyone else?" She said. "Charlotte?"

"There is more than one side to a story," the young Ravenclaw said. Alessa nodded.

"Sometimes before you find yourself thinking that someone is mean, you should try to think of the situation from their point of view," Alessa said, smiling at them. "It's easy to take an extra moment and think about it instead of responding with fear or anger." The bell rang and the group of went girls clamored to find their school bags they had left by the door. "Have a good weekend," Alessa called over the noise. "Remember to watch out for Peeves, he gets extra rowdy around Halloween."

She sighed as the door fell shut behind the last girl. Her next hour was free, and then there was lunch. She had finished grading her older students papers the night before, a task that she had planned on doing during the free period, but now she had some time to go talk to Madame Pomfrey about her dreams like George had asked her to.

She fetched her wand from her desk, then waved it to move the furniture back to it's proper places, then seal off her office from intruders. She made sure to wait the ten minutes between the students classes so that the halls would be empty when she left the classroom. She couldn't remember the halls being over crowded during her school days, but now it seemed as though she had to dodge around a student every few feet if she went out between classes.

She walked slowly as she made her way to the hospital wing, enjoying the view out of the tall windows in the hallway leading to the hospital wing. They looked out over the black lake all the way over to Hagrid's cabin at the edge of the forest and on a clear day like today was, it felt like she could see miles out over the treetops of the forest.

The hospital wing was empty when she arrived, so she waited by the doors for Madame Pomfrey to return. She had started to think about the information Hermione had sent her about muggle doctors since she had finally found time that morning to read over the different treatment types, and she was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the doors open. Fingers snapped in front of her face twice, breaking her thoughts. She blinked up, then scowled.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, irritated that her thoughts had been interrupted.

"Dropping of these potions," Draco said, chuckling at her irritation. "I have a free period on Friday's before lunch, so that's when I come up to refill Pomfrey's potion stock."

"Oh," Alessa said, glancing at the box of vials he carried. "I didn't realize there was such a need for potions here."

"Cold season is coming soon so I expect she is going to go through quite a bit of Pepper-Up Potion," Draco said, shrugging. "A lot of kids have allergies too, though that's more of a spring time ailment."

"I never came here during school for anything," Alessa said, chuckling. "I guess I didn't pay that much attention to how often other people did."

"I always came here to skip class," Draco said, chuckling. "And in third year I got attacked by a hippogriff that broke my arm."

"Really?" Alessa asked, laughing. "I think I remember that actually. You couldn't play in the quidditch game that month and they had to switch the game schedule around."

"Well there's no better reason to slack off during class then actually getting hurt during one," he said, though he frowned at the memory.

"Any other embarrassing stories from your school days? My younger students really enjoy hearing about them," she said, then laughed at the horrified look on his face. "I'm just kidding. I don't actually know any stories about you to tell them. Though I suppose I could tell them about you getting punched in the face by Hermione."

"If you do I will get you back," he said, narrowing his eyes. "I still have some things from the joke shop."

"I know the counter charms to almost everything there," she said, not threatened in the slightest, then held her hands up to stop him from increasing his threats. "But I won't tell them anything anyway."

"Good morning you two," Madame Pomfrey said, sweeping in the open infirmary doors. "What can I help you with?"

"I brought these up for you," Draco said, turning to her after one last mocking glare at Alessa.

"Very good, thank you Professor Malfoy," she said. He nodded, then left the room, closing the door behind him. "And you dear?"

"I've been having unsettling dreams," Alessa said, following Madame Pomfrey into her office. "I'm not too sure what's causing them, and I've been using Dreamless Sleep Draught on and off for the last month or so, but I know it's not good to take too often. I was wondering of you had anything else I could use."

"Hmm," Madame Pomfrey said, looking her over. "Bad dreams are usually caused by stress or illness," she began, then frowned. "Probably stress in your case, you look like you have been losing weight, are you eating properly?"

"I eat at every meal, and sometimes fruit throughout the day if I get hungry between meals," Alessa said. "After my stint of malnourishment I saw a healer who gave me a diet plan to follow so that I could get back to a healthy weight."

"Then I would definitely say it's a stress caused issue," the older woman said. "I can give you a Relaxation Potion, but you shouldn't rely on it either. You take it as needed, when you are feeling overwhelmed. I believe your class focuses on meditation? That is a good way to get rid of stress."

"Of course," Alessa said, feeling like an idiot. Since coming to teach here she hadn't had time to meditate besides in class, and that was more to help the students then to clear her own mind. As she thought about it, she couldn't even recall the last time she had taken a moment to herself to meditate and organize her thoughts. "Thank you Madame Pomfrey," she said, getting to her feet. "I think I'll skip the potion for now and just try meditating instead. I'll come back if that doesn't work."

"Very well," the woman said, smiling. "Take care."

"You as well," Alessa replied, then made her way out of the hospital wing. Lunch was due to start in a few minutes, so she went straight to the Great Hall rather than going back to her office.

* * *

Alessa's last class of the day was with the 7th years from both Gryffindor and Slytherin. The class was originally supposed to be another anatomy lesson, but after her talk with Madame Pomfrey, Alessa decided they could all benefit from an extra meditation lesson. She knew that the students enjoyed meditation more than anatomy lessons anyway, so she figured none of them would complain about the change in plans.

After making sure that all of them were correctly meditating, she sunk comfortably back into her own mind. It was cluttered, though her subconscious organized the different pieces of information, memories, emotions, and everything else into their proper rooms automatically. She spent most of the class hour organizing her mind, and when the bell rang it took her by surprise. She opened her eyes, then frowned. Some of the students were looking around them, confused as well, because the sound that had drawn them out of their meditation was not the bell for the end of class, but rather it came from Alessa's office. She jumped up, recognizing it as the ring of her cell phone after a moment.

"Please return to the exercise," Alessa told the class, then hurried into her office, casting a silencing charm behind her so they would be able to hear as she answered the phone.

"Hello?" She asked curiously, not having recognized the phone number of the caller. Since Ginny was the only person to have ever called her on the phone, Alessa had forgotten she even had it.

"Hello. May I please speak to Alessa Weasley?" The woman on the other end of the phone asked, her voice sharp.

"Speaking," Alessa said, not bothering to correct the woman on her name.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley. My name is Heather Reeds from the social services office. I'm calling in regards of the information you faxed over to us yesterday concerning the adoption of a Mr. Seth Adams and a Ms. Katherine Adams. Is now a good time?"

"Oh yes, of course," Alessa said, pulling a paper and quill across her desk in case she had to write anything down. She wasn't sure what 'faxed' meant, but she assumed that Hermione had done it.

"Wonderful," the woman said. "Your legal consultant Ms. Granger has been in contact with us this past week and it looks like everything is in order for the adoption. It usually takes a bit longer, but as you are related to the children you already had certain legal rights so we were able to push everything forward. There is still a bit of paperwork that you and your husband will need to go through and sign but the background checks are complete. As the social worker assigned to this case I will, of course, need to come out to your house to sign off that it is safe enough for a child to live in. Your work history states that you work at a boarding school and your husband owns and manages a toy store, so I understand that it's unlikely to find a time when both of you are free, so only one of you will need to be there for the home checkover. Do you have any idea when one of you will be at home?"

Alessa frowned. Hermione had mentioned in passing that they sometimes do a home inspection, but there was no way they could bring a muggle woman up to Hogsmeade. Then she remembered her parents old house out in the country, so conveniently in a muggle area, and also conveniently kept up to shape by the house elves that lived there.

"Will this evening be alright?" Alessa asked. "My last class ends at five and I will be home around six thirty."

"Wonderful. And what is the address for that? I can't seem to find it in your already filed paperwork," the woman asked, and Alessa could hear a few papers rustling in the background.

"It's 11450 on Country Road R, on the north side of London," Alessa said, rattling off the address she hadn't thought of in years. "The driveway is a bit long, but you can park anywhere you'd like."

"Perfect," the woman said. "I'll see you this evening then Mrs. Weasley."

"Alright, thank you," Alessa said, her mind in a flurry again as she hung up the phone. She went back out into the classroom, slightly surprised that the students had kept up their meditation unsupervised rather than talking to each other.

"Alright, that's enough for today, would everyone please open their eyes?" She called to the class. One by one the students came out of their meditative states, looking at her curiously. The class time was only a bit over half over. "As it's Friday, and the last day of classes before Halloween, I think I can stand to let you go early. Have a great weekend, and don't forget that you will have the unit exam on Tuesday."

They crowded out of the room, grinning and talking with each other, and when the class had emptied, Alessa waved her wand to lock the door behind them. She sent off a brief letter to the Headmistress about needing to leave the school before dinner, then she went into her office, shutting the door behind her.

"Zondy, Cinney," she called in a loud voice, then grinned at the two house elves that had appeared with slight pops in front of her. "Hello."

"Hello mistress," Cinney said, bowing her large head. Zondy followed her lead, bowing his head as well.

"What can Zondy do for mistress?"

"Mistress has not called on Cinney for many years."

"I know, I'm sorry about that," Alessa said, frowning. "Is everything going alright at the house?"

"The manor gets no visitors," Cinney said, her voice almost a squeak. "Not for years and years."

"Good," Alessa said, nodding. "The house is still cared for though? Fit to live in?"

"Yes mistresses," Zondy said, his voice excited. "Is mistress going to live there again?"

"Not quite," she said, taking her seat behind her desk. "But I need to make it look as though I live there, to trick a muggle."

"All the rooms are set up from the last time mistresses has lived at home," Cinney said, and Zondy nodded in agreement.

"Perfect," Alessa said. "At six this evening we will have a muggle guest over to look at the house."

"Shall we prepare dinner for Mistress and guest?" Zondy asked, his voice squeaking in excitement at the prospect of real work.

"Not dinner," Alessa said, shaking her head in thought. "But perhaps tea and snacks if you could. Enough for three or four people. I'm not sure who will be there."

"Of course Mistress," Cinney said, bowing again.

"Thank you," Alessa said, smiling to them. They both bowed again, then disappeared with a pop.

Alessa used her fireplace to floo back to the house. There she changed out of her school robes and into some casual muggle clothes, then laid some out for George as well. When that was done she made a floo call to Hermione's work office, correctly assuming that the other woman would still be there. She explained to Hermione about the new turn the case had taken, and having knowledge of muggles, Hermione agreed to come along, promising to meet up with Alessa and George at Sarati Manor at six.

Finally, Alessa made her way across the wide yard to the shop, coming in the back door. There were a couple people milling about in the aisles, but Alessa ignored them as she made her way up to the counter.

"George?" She called into the back room, not spotting him immediately.

"Alessa? Why are you back so early?" He asked, coming out of the room with a box full of products.

"The adoption agency called," she explained, following him as he went to the shelf that needed to be restocked. "We have a meeting with them tonight at six thirty. I know it's busy because of Halloween being on Monday, but could you close up early or call someone else to watch the shop?"

"I'll call Ron," George said, nodding as he arranged the products. "What are we meeting with them for?"

"I'm not too sure," Alessa said. "Paperwork I think, and they are doing a house inspection or something. I'm having her meet us at my parents manor since it's in a muggle neighborhood. Hermione said she will be there too."

"I thought you said your parents had a house," he said, brows raised at her as they walked back to the counter.

"Well it's a large house," she said, shrugging. "But the elves said they would have it ready by six and I'm just going to go early to make sure that nothing magical is in plain view."

"You have elves?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they keep up the maintenance on the manor," Alessa said, smiling at his shocked look. "There are two there, and one in France that keeps up that home."

"I keep forgetting your family was wealthy," George said, shaking his head as he located his cell phone to contact Ron.

"I've never needed to use their money so I don't really mention it I guess," Alessa said, shrugging. "I guess it'll come in handy now that we will have kids to provide for." She grinned at the thought. "Anyway, I laid some muggle clothes out for you at home. I'm going to go ahead. Just floo to Sarati Manor when you are free. I'll change the wards for you."

"I'll see you in a bit then," George said, giving her a short kiss. She used the floo straight from the back room, rather than going home to use that fireplace. The floo connection to her office at school was set up so that she could only get to it through her home floo, but the manor would let her in based off her blood, not her location.

She was pleasantly surprised when she stepped out of the living room fireplace. The potions accident that had ended her parents lives had destroyed the kitchen and most of the front of the house, including the living room and one upstairs bedroom. She had paid to have it repaired her first year out of school, but she had tasked her elves with replacing the furniture and other things, and she hadn't been back to look at the place since. They had done an excellent job of redecorating though. It was impossible to tell that the place had once been blown apart. She wandered into the kitchen, glad to see that there were muggle appliances in the room, just as there had been when she was younger. The manor had originally been built as a muggle residence, hundreds of years ago, and Alessa's mother had decided she liked the muggle things, so her and Alessa's father had updated all the appliances. The elves had replaced them with newer models, but it was relatively the same. The place was clean and orderly, and upon first glance, Alessa didn't see anything magic related, though her second look let her know she would have to do something about the bookshelves, which had a lot of magic books mixed in with the muggle ones. She pulled out her wand, placing a disillusionment charm over them so that the titles would not catch the interest of anyone in the room. On the other side of the kitchen was the potions workroom her mother had gotten added to the building. Alessa made sure the door was locked, then disillusioned it as well.

She knew that most of the bedrooms upstairs had been set up as guest rooms, so they were unlikely to have anything incriminating in them, but she checked them over anyway, leaving the doors open as she went.

The house was technically three levels tall, though the top floor had slanted walls, from the roof, and was more suited to be an attic. The second floor had six bedrooms on one side, five on the other, with a study in between the second and third bedroom. The master bedroom was at the front of the house, and Alessa charmed some of the things there and transfigured others so that the room looked lived in. She was glad to see that her parents old clothing had been kept in the closet as well, though she didn't think the woman would be looking in there. She left the sliding closet door partly open and pulled a couple pairs of shoes out to slide under the bed, visible from the door. She took a couple books off the shelf as well, setting them on the bedside table. Overall the room looked tidy but occupied.

Satisfied with that, Alessa went out to the front of the house, then frowned as she took it in.

The garden had been kept up by the elves which Alessa knew because she had asked them to do so, but the driveway was very overgrown with weeds and the trees on either side of the drive were hanging low over the path.

"Cinney," Alessa called, making the elf appear with a pop. "I'm going to be out clearing the drive, can you let anyone who comes through the floo know, please?"

"Yes Mistress," the elf said, then disappeared.

Alessa had left the school at about 4:30, which meant that it was probably near five by now, leaving her over an hour to clear the half mile long driveway. She pulled out her wand, using slicing spells on the weeds and overhanging branches, then she used a levitation spell to move them out of view behind the other trees.

George joined her when she was about halfway down the drive.

"Alessa, this house is huge," he said as soon as she was within earshot.

"I know," she said, smiling up at him as he came to a stop in front of her. "When we are old and retired we can live here and raise chickens and sheep."

"Deal, as long as we can have horses too," he said, chuckling.

"I agree," she said, grinning. "Now help me clear these weeds."

Between the two of them they got most of it done quickly. At the end of the drive they only used magic on the bigger branches, and discreetly at that, since cars would periodically drive by on the highway. The weeds they pulled up by hand.

They made it back to the house a little before six and used charms to clean off their clothes and hands. Hermione arrived from the fireplace clutching a stack of papers to her chest. Alessa gathered them all in the kitchen where Zondy had been preparing tea, and they sat at the breakfast bar while they sipped.

"I took the liberty of setting you up with a muggle bank account," Hermione said when they were seated. She slid a couple papers down the bar towards Alessa. "There is probably going to be some sort of adoption fee. You can pay me back later," she said, and Alessa nodded. Hermione ran her through how to write a check until Alessa could do it properly, and she explained to them about the little plastic cards that muggle used as money, giving those to them as well.

"Mine says Alessa Weasley," Alessa said, grinning as she flashed the card at George, who smiled.

"Yes, well, the paperwork I forged for you was much easier to process if you both had the same last name," Hermione said, shrugging a little.

"I don't mind," Alessa said, tucking the card into her jeans pocket. "I meant to ask you, what is a 'faxed'? The woman said you faxed her something."

"It's a muggle machine," Hermione said, chuckling. "Muggles don't use it often anymore either. It basically copies a paper and then sends it where you want it to go. Like mail without owls or postmen." Alessa didn't really understand, but she nodded anyway. "You know, you ought to have a car out front," Hermione continued. "She won't notice if you do, but she will probably think it odd if you don't."

"I don't have a car though," Alessa said, frowning. "I guess we could do an illusion spell. I did one on the bookshelves since most of the books there are magical."

"I'll do that," Hermione said, jumping down from her stool and heading to the door.

"Are you nervous?" Alessa asked George when the door had fallen shut behind Hermione.

"There's a lot that could go wrong," George said, frowning. "Muggles are confusing to deal with."

"I guess if all else fails we could confound her," Alessa said, her voice showing her disdain for the idea. She wanted to do everything correctly, so that the ministry could have nothing to complain about when they went there to register the change of guardianship of the children.

"It'll be fine," George said as Cinney refilled their teapot. "You might want to ask the elves to hide though."

"Oh, right," Alessa said. "Cinney, we have a muggle guest coming over for a little while, could you and Zondy please stay in the potions lab until I call you?"

"Of course Mistress," the elf said, bowing. She disappeared with a pop again, and not even a minute later, they heard Hermione's voice coming into the room with a tall blonde woman.

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," the woman said, coming forward to shake hands with them. They both greeted her, keeping smiles on their face as she looked around at the room. "I must say this is a lovely house you have here," she said when the greetings were done.

"Thank you," Alessa said, smiling. "It was my parent's house when I was young. We own all the property on either side of the drive, half a mile east way, and another half mile of fields behind the house."

"Yes I see that on your paperwork here," the woman said, gesturing to something on the clipboard she carried. "Do you have any animals on the property?"

"We had cattle and horses when I was in primary school but now we don't have any," she said, her voice polite. "It's just too much upkeep to have farm animals and I'm allergic to hay, so it was simpler to just get rid of them when I came to own the property."

"That seems sensible," the woman said, smiling. "Would you take me through the house please? I just need to make sure that there aren't any safety violations."

"Of course," Alessa said. "Why don't you keep Ms. Granger company dear," she said to George over the woman's shoulder as an excuse to let them stay behind. George made a face at her that the woman couldn't see.

"Of course," George said, adopting an almost mockingly posh voice. "Would you like some more tea Miss Granger?"

"No that you Mr. Weasley," Hermione said, doing a very good job of keeping her face straight. Alessa led the woman out of the room before either of them laughed.

The woman looked briefly into every room, then the attic, and even went so far as to check the old barn out back that Alessa hadn't looked at yet. It was maintained though, so she needn't have worried.

"Alright, everything looks great," the woman said, scribbling on her clipboard. "I just have a bit of paperwork for you to sign and then everything will be settled."

"Great," Alessa said, walking with the woman back into the kitchen where George and Hermione were talking about some movie or other that they both had seen.

With Hermione to advise them on the paperwork everything went by quickly and soon enough the woman was leaving, letting them know that they could go to pick up Seth in the morning.

Before going back to Hogsmeade, Alessa and George made a stop off in Diagon Alley to go to the bank. The sun was just starting to set by then, and the air was crisp as they walked down the alley.

Alessa gave George access to her family vaults and drew enough out of them to repay Hermione for the muggle money she had put into their bank account.

By the time they made it back to the house, they were exhausted. Alessa decided to wait until the next day to tell Katherine that the adoptions had gone through.

* * *

"Hey," George said as Alessa came down the stairs the next morning. She had slept in for the first time in months, and George had taken it upon himself to make breakfast. It was just eggs and toast, and of course, coffee, but Alessa thought it was perfect.

"You're learning," she commented, seeing that only one piece of toast was overcooked. "This actually looks edible."

"Well when you abandoned me to teach I took it upon myself to buy a cookbook," George said, sticking his tongue out at her. "It has been very informational.

"You know, I could have one of the elves come here if you want," Alessa said, frowning in thought. "They enjoy cooking."

"No, I'm fine," George said, shrugging. "I've been taking lessons."

"Lessons? From who?" Alessa asked, startled.

"Mum," George said, sitting down in his chair to eat.

"Seriously?" She asked, surprised. "I recall you telling Ginny that you would rather be eaten by a rabid wolf than admit to your mother that you didn't know how to cook."

"Well I figured that since we are going to be taking care of children and all I should be able to feed them without poisoning them accidentally," George said, but his neck was flushing red in embarrassment. Alessa smiled.

"You are going to make a great dad," she said, patting his hand where it rested on the table. "Don't you need to open the shop? It's almost ten."

"Verity is taking care of it," George said. "We have to go to the ministry after picking up Seth so I figured it would be a while."

"Good thinking," Alessa said. She wouldn't say anything but she was nervous at the prospect of going back into the Ministry and actually having to talk to the officials there after the two Ministry workers that had plotted to kill her last year. "I should go get Katherine," Alessa said, finishing her breakfast. She took her dishes, and George's to the sink to wash them, and almost jumped when his arms wrapped around her from behind. She leaned her head back into his shoulder to look up at him.

"Blaise and Katie have sent out their wedding invitations," George said, resting his head on top of her hair.

"When's the date?" She asked, turning in his arms.

"The day after New Years," he said, then grinned. "They sent it along with a note that says 'beat that'. It was all very mocking."

"I'm sure it was," she said, then grinned up at him. "Let's have ours right before Christmas."

"That's only two months away," he said, but he was smiling. "We haven't done any planning."

"Well it doesn't need to be a big wedding," she said. "I don't have any family besides Blaise. You can invite all of your family and it can be just a simple ceremony."

"That sounds perfect," he said, kissing her forehead. "I don't want you to be stressed about this though."

"I'll be fine," she said, shaking her head. "There isn't that much to plan really. Blaise agreed to walk me down the aisle. We can ask Katherine and Seth if they would like to be the flower girl and ring bearer. I'll ask Ginny to be my Matron of Honer."

"We can have it at the Burrow," George said. "Bill and Fleur had their wedding there and it was nice until it got crashed by the death eaters."

"It'll be cold in December though," Alessa said, frowning.

"Dad has this huge marquee and we can put warming charms around it," George said. "What about flowers?"

"I'll plan that," Alessa said. "Ginny will probably want to help. You can go talk to your mum about having it at the Burrow after we are done at the Ministry, then we can send out invitations tonight."

"Perfect," he said, stepping back to give her a short kiss. "I'll see you in a bit then."

Alessa took the floo to her office but she went up to the Headmistresses office before looking for Katherine. Once Mcgonagall had given her permission to take Katherine from the grounds, Alessa headed to Gryffindor Tower. As a professor, she had the password, though the Fat Lady in the portrait guarding the door eyed her suspiciously. The common room was loud with chatter, and most of the students didn't notice her for a moment, since she was wearing her muggle clothes and her hair was up in a ponytail instead of her usual long braid, but they began to fall quiet group by group as Alessa looked around the room.

"I'm looking for Katherine Adams," she said when the room was completely silent. It probably would have been easier to find someone to carry a note to the girl, but it was too late to change her mind now.

"I think she's in the library," one of Alessa's other second year students said after a moment.

"Thank you Ms. Phillips," Alessa said, then turned to go back out into the hallway.

It only took her a moment to fine Katherine in the library. She was sitting at a table with two other students, whispering between them though they looked like they had at one point been working on homework. Alessa rested a hand other shoulder to get her attention, making her jump.

"Ms. Adams, would you please take your school things back to your room and then come to my office?" She asked, keeping her voice low so the librarian didn't come over.

"Yes Professor Sarati," she said, tucking her parchment and books back into her bag. Alessa beat her to the office by only five minutes and was glad to see that the girl was wearing muggle clothing.

"We are taking a trip to see your brother," she said, grinning at the young girl.

"Okay," Katherine said, beaming up at Alessa. The two of them made a quick stop in her house to collect George, then all three of them apparated to an alleyway near the orphanage. George was carrying a small sheaf of papers with him, and they walked in silence as he read over a couple of them.

"Apparently she was very impressed with the size of our lands," George said, chuckling as he read a line of handwritten letters.

"Well the manor is just under 700 acres," Alessa said, shrugging. "I'd say that's sizable."

"More than," he said, rolling his eyes. "All her notes are about the size of the house and the grounds. I guess size does matter."

"Stop it George," Alessa said, frowning at him as Katherine giggled. He made a motion as though locking his mouth shut and she sighed. Suddenly it seemed as though there would be three children living in her house, not two.

They were lead to the rude woman's office immediately this time, and she was a little nicer than usual to them once she realized they were taking Seth not just visiting him. Katherine had gone to find him in the room he shared with another boy, and when George and Alessa got up to the room after signing all the paperwork, they were playing with a toy car on the floor.

"Okay you two," Alessa said, grinning at them. The other boy who occupied the room was missing again, which was good for them. "Pack all your things," she said. They stared at her for a moment in confusion.

"What for?" Seth asked, frowning.

"Well since you don't live here anymore I just assumed you would want to take your things with you when you left," she said, grinning.

"For real?" Katherine asked, her mouth dropping open. "You adopted us?"

"I said we were going to," Alessa said, smiling.

"We should have brought a trunk," George said.

"No it's okay, we aren't allowed to have a lot of things," Katherine said, grabbing her brothers hand. "Seth, they are taking us home with them. You don't have to stay here anymore," she told the suddenly quiet boy.

"I never have to come back?" He asked, looking up at them all with round eyes.

"Never," George said, kneeling down. "Let's get your things together alright?"

Seth ran at George, wrapping his small arms around George's neck. George patted his back gently, looking up at Alessa as Katherine moved around the room, gathering an armful of clothing from the wardrobe and tossing it onto the bed. Alessa smiled and crouched down next to them to talk to Seth.

"Do you want to come with us and see your new house?" She asked, and the boy nodded, stepping back from George. "We have to make one stop before we go, at the Ministry of Magic, but after that you can see your new home. Maybe tomorrow you can meet some of your new cousins."

"We have more cousins?" Katherine asked, folding the blanket around Seth's clothes and few toys.

"A few of them actually," George said. "Is that everything?"

"My dog," Seth said, scrambling to grab a stuffed dog off the floor. He clutched it to his chest tightly with one hand. Alessa grabbed the other hand as George took the bundle from Katherine.

The four of them left the orphanage, neither of the kids looking back as they left. When they were out of view, George shrunk the bundle of clothes, much to Seth's delight, and stuck it into his jacket pocket.

"Milady," he said, offering his arm to Katherine, who giggled again. She held on tightly, having side-along appeared before, and they disappeared with a pop. Alessa smiled down at Seth, then picked up the boy.

"Hold on tight," she said as his arms went around her neck. He nodded, and she spun on the spot, appearing in the Ministry atrium a moment later.

"You're a little too heavy to keep carrying," Alessa said to the seven year old. "I'm going to put you down, but make sure you stay close okay?"

"Okay," he said, looking around them at all the wizards and witches in their robes. He held onto her hand tightly as they followed George to the main desk, then to the lifts.

"This won't take very long," George said when they got out on the second floor. "We just have to make the adoption official with our community."

Making it official turned out to be very easy, and Alessa felt foolish for worrying. The woman in the legal department they went to spent a couple minutes looking over the muggle paperwork, then she slid them back to George. She had the two adults press their hands to some sort of magical scroll, then the two children did the same.

"Alright, you are the new guardians of Katherine and Seth Adams," she said, then frowned. "Did you want to change their names while you are here?"

Alessa and George looked at each other, then at the kids.

"Do you want to keep your last name or change it to ours?" Alessa asked. Katherine thought about it for a moment, but Seth immediately wanted it changed. Katherine nodded too after a moment.

"What do we need to do?" George asked the woman, who had seen the exchange.

"Just sign here," she said to the two children. Katherine signed her name easily, but Seth's letters were still clumsy and overlarge.

"That's it?" Alessa asked.

"That's it," the woman said, smiling. "Congratulations. You are now the legal guardians of Katherine and Seth Weasley."

The four of them left the Ministry through the floo, all of them smiling.


End file.
